Google is going into overdrive to promote its JavaScript rival, the Dart language, with plans to pitch the language at developer events worldwide.
The company's Flight School events, revealed this week and planned for February, will have Google developer groups and other developer organizations presenting talks and code labs on client- and server-side Dart. More than 50 events are planned. Google also will use the events to educate developers on using Web frameworks like Polymer andAngular (also known as Angular.js and developed at Google) with Dart.
"We're happy to see some groups really embrace the theme," said Seth Ladd, developer advocate at Google, in a blog post. "For example, the Seattle GDG (Google Developer Group) is holding its event in the Museum of Flight, and GDG Netherlands is hosting its keynote in an old Boeing 747."
An open source project, Dart compiles to JavaScript. Google has positioned Dart as a mechanism for building large applications, and in the fall, the company released the official 1.0 version of Dart. Version 1.1, featuring faster JavaScript performance, was released last week, but Dart's ability to take on the well-established, ubiquitous JavaScript has always been a big question mark.
Dart, which was announced in October 2011, "helps you build modern Web apps with a new language, core libraries, and tools such as a package manager, editor, and a compiler to JavaScript. Use Angular with Dart for extra jet fuel," Google said on the Dart Flight School Web page. Mozilla, which employs JavaScript founder Brendan Eich and has been prominent in the development of JavaScript, declined to comment on Google's latest Dart promotion or Dart's chances to compete with JavaScript.