Ecstortive

I recently saw the announcement of Google Dart being part of Webkit as patch. Lots of people really started yelling. This post is just an opinion and a wish-list.

I would love to see dart as plug-in to browsers rather than a patch to Webkit!

If Google is really looking forward to have Dart as next language for webpages; I think its time to open the Pandora box and again start using the long forgotten language=”Dart” in script tags (other options may include language=”Lua”, language=”Coffescript”, language=”Brainfuck!” and who knows what). Remember when two giants were fighting we used to have “VBScript” in the language property? It’s long gone, but here is a chance for Microsoft again! Here is my wish list:

• Scripting languages that ship as extension to browsers, just like Flash today! This is will open up true competition between developers (Google vs. Microsoft vs. Mozilla vs. Opera?) truly promoting the nature of open platform, where you get choice of choosing your language. Just think about it; if Javascript also becomes an extension to browsers, you would be able to plug v8 to Firefox (Ya I sound crazy)!
• Script tags remain there with no changes, execution however depending upon the availability of language (plugin) mentioned in attribute:
  

  <script type=”text/dart” language=”Dart”>/* My Dart Code */</script>

• BAL, yes a Browser Abstraction Layer. Since all of the extensions would need a interface to interact with DOM, and various components in browser we would definitely need one!
• Since we can switch between languages, we can also get options for compiled scripts! Which will take out the overhead of compression, minification and at times obfuscation crap. We would be able to ship byte-codes over the wire which means lesser size (compiled .pyc files ennnh) and more efficient VMs!

I have not yet calculated the Pros and Cons completely but as a web developer this is my wish list. What do you think?