Cross-platform mobile application development involves developing, deploying and managing mobile apps that can be used on multiple mobile platforms. Dart and JavaScript are languages used widely in the field of cross-platform mobile application development. From calculating monthly expenses to scheduling sales reports, applications help businesses to automate processes and increase efficiency.
Dart for Flutter: The Flutter framework recommended the most nowadays for mobile apps and Flutter is purely based on Dart. So the mobile developers have to learn Dart, in order to get started with Flutter. The people nowadays use web, Android, iOS and many more and Flutter enables one to shift to these platforms from a single code base. How is this made possible? It is actually done using a programming language that fits to all these platforms, and Dart really does a great work in this role. It supports multi-platform environment as well as offers a speedy development experience.
The problems that are usually faced while building mobile apps are slow compile and debug cycles. But Dart uses hot-reload where the Dart VM can apply changes to the processes(running or live program). The function hot reload actually works by injecting the updated source code files and libraries into the running Dart VM. Is this synonymous to hot restart? No, hot restart is slower compared to reload. It actually works by destroying or rebuilding the state value and then setting it to default.
Building Apps using JavaScript: JavaScript is literally omnipresent. There is no device that doesn’t run JavaScript. At present, JavaScript is used for writing mobile, web and server-sided codes. And when talking about web development, JavaScript is one among the primary languages taught in schools and colleges after HTML. Learn the basics of JavaScript for web development here: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/javascript-a-gateway-to-the-world-of-web-development/
JavaScript is a browser side scripting language, but is also used in mobile application development. And React.js is the best choice of a framework that is scalable, fast and secure. It is really growing in popularity because it is supported by a large community of developers at Facebook and is capable of providing fantastic user and developer experience. Thus, with the help of JavaScript we can build numerous dynamic mobile and web applications without contacting the server as the browser performs substantial part of functions. The data and interfaces can be updated as part of the application thus nullifying the need for reloading it. React Native is a buzzword used actively as a tool for cross-platform mobile application development. It shares majority of code between Android and iOS, and for hybrid desktop applications with Electron.
Understanding Dart and JavaScript as programming languages: JavaScript was developed in the year 1995. Therefore, it has now obviously become a stable and safe programming language. It is also called the 101 of Web development, because this is something to learn as a beginner while developing a web application. It became much more popular after Facebook released React and React Native frameworks.
Dart was developed by Google as an internal programming language to build web,server and mobile applications. And when Flutter was released, the fame of Dart rose much more.
- Package Managers: A package manager is designed to help you save time and frustration. Essentially, it is a set of software tools that help you automate the process of getting software on your machine. JavaScript has got its own package managers like NPM(Node Package Manager) and Yarn. NPM is the default package manager for the JavaScript runtime environment Node.js. And Yarn is a new package manager that replaces the existing workflow for the NPM client or other package managers while remaining compatible with the NPM registry.
Dart is also having a package manager called Pub. It contains reusable libraries packages for Flutter, Angular Dart, and general Dart programs. It also allows us to share the packages to everyone.
- Language Translators: Language translators are used to convert the high level languages into machine level languages. JavaScript is basically an interpreted language. Want to know more about an interpreter? Then refer:
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/introduction-to-interpreters/Dart is also used in web based programming and hence is compiled into JavaScript unlike other programming languages. Learn about compilers in the link: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/introduction-to-compilers/
- Frontend Vs Backend: JavaScript emerged as a language for rendering web pages along with HTML and CSS . But after the growth of React.js framework the language was used both server sided and backend development applications whereas Dart is used with Flutter for front-end cross-platform mobile application developments.
- Commercial Usage: JavaScript with the invention of React has reached the highest echelons of its popularity and hence its used by many companies, Facebook being the pioneer and almost all devices support this language whereas Dart is used by companies and projects using Flutter for building applications. Google, Alibaba and many companies use Dart.
Even after learning and comparing these two competing languages, its really difficult to find the dominating one in the field of cross-platform mobile application development. But as Flutter is growing day by day by adding fresh features to it, Dart is sure to have taken off very steadily. Still its unpredictable about who will grab the market in the near future.
