[Dart] Language samples

Posted on 2020-03-07 Edited on 2024-09-12 In Programming Language , Dart Views: Word count in article: 7.6k Reading time ≈ 7 mins.

Dart Language Samples

Dart is a client-optimized language for fast apps on any platform.

This collection is not exhaustive—it’s just a brief introduction to the language for people who like to learn by example.

Hello World

Every app has a main() function. To display text on the console, you can use the top-level print() function:

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void main() {
  print('Hello, World!');
}

Variables

Even in type-safe Dart code, most variables don’t need explicit types, thanks to type inference:

var name = 'Voyager I';
var year = 1977;
var antennaDiameter = 3.7;
var flybyObjects = ['Jupiter', 'Saturn', 'Uranus', 'Neptune'];
var image = {
  'tags': ['saturn'],
  'url': '//path/to/saturn.jpg'
};

Read more about variables in Dart, including default values, the var, final and const keywords, type-safe, type inference and static types.

Control flow statements

Dart supports the usual control flow statements:

if (year >= 2001) {
  print('21st century');
} else if (year >= 1901) {
  print('20th century');
}

for (var object in flybyObjects) {
  print(object);
}

for (int month = 1; month <= 12; month++) {
  print(month);
}

while (year < 2016) {
  year += 1;
}

Read more about control flow statements in Dart, including if, else, else if, break and continue, switch and case, and assert.

Functions

We recommend specifying the types of each function’s arguments and return value:

int fibonacci(int n) {
  if (n == 0 || n == 1) return n;
  return fibonacci(n - 1) + fibonacci(n - 2);
}

var result = fibonacci(20);

A shorthand => (arrow) syntax is handy for functions that contain a single expression or return statement. This syntax is especially useful when passing anonymous functions as arguments:

1	flybyObjects.where((name) => name.contains('turn')).forEach(print);

Besides showing an anonymous function (the argument to where()), this code shows that you can use a function as an argument: the top-level print() function is an argument to forEach().

Read more about functions in Dart, including optional parameters, default parameter values, and lexical scope.

Comments

Dart comments usually start with //.

// This is a normal, one-line comment.

/// This is a documentation comment, used to document libraries,
/// classes, and their members. Tools like IDEs and dartdoc treat
/// doc comments specially.

/* Comments like these are also supported. */

Read more about comments in Dart, including how the documentation tooling works.

Imports

To access APIs defined in other libraries, use import.

// Importing core libraries
import 'dart:math';

// Importing libraries from external packages
import 'package:test/test.dart';

// Importing files
import 'path/to/my_other_file.dart';

Read more about libraries and visibility in Dart, including library prefixes, show and hide, and lazy loading through the deferred keyword.

Classes

Here’s an example of a class with three properties, two constructors, and a method. One of the properties can’t be set directly, so it’s defined using a getter method (instead of a variable).

class Spacecraft {
  String name;
  DateTime launchDate;

  // Constructor, with syntactic sugar for assignment to members.
  Spacecraft(this.name, this.launchDate) {
    // Initialization code goes here.
  }

  // Named constructor that forwards to the default one.
  Spacecraft.unlaunched(String name) : this(name, null);

  int get launchYear =>
      launchDate?.year; // read-only non-final property

  // Method.
  void describe() {
    print('Spacecraft: $name');
    if (launchDate != null) {
      int years =
          DateTime.now().difference(launchDate).inDays ~/
              365;
      print('Launched: $launchYear ($years years ago)');
    } else {
      print('Unlaunched');
    }
  }
}

You might use the Spacecraft class like this:

var voyager = Spacecraft('Voyager I', DateTime(1977, 9, 5));
voyager.describe();

var voyager3 = Spacecraft.unlaunched('Voyager III');
voyager3.describe();

Read more about classes in Dart, including initializer lists, optional new and const, redirecting constructors, factory constructors, getters, setters, and much more.

Inheritance

Dart has single inheritance.

class Orbiter extends Spacecraft {
  double altitude;
  Orbiter(String name, DateTime launchDate, this.altitude)
      : super(name, launchDate);
}

Read more about extending classes, the optional @override annotation, and more.

Mixins

Mixins are a way of reusing code in multiple class hierarchies. The following is a mixin declaration:

mixin Piloted {
  int astronauts = 1;
  void describeCrew() {
    print('Number of astronauts: $astronauts');
  }
}

To add a mixin’s capabilities to a class, just extend the class with the mixin.

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class PilotedCraft extends Spacecraft with Piloted {
  // ···
}

PilotedCraft now has the astronauts field as well as the describeCrew() method.

Interfaces and abstract classes

Dart has no interface keyword. Instead, all classes implicitly define an interface. Therefore, you can implement any class.

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class MockSpaceship implements Spacecraft {
  // ···
}

Async

Avoid callback hell and make your code much more readable by using async and await.

const oneSecond = Duration(seconds: 1);
// ···
Future<void> printWithDelay(String message) async {
  await Future.delayed(oneSecond);
  print(message);
}

The method above is equivalent to:

Future<void> printWithDelay(String message) {
  return Future.delayed(oneSecond).then((_) {
    print(message);
  });
}

As the next example shows, async and await help make asynchronous code easy to read.

Future<void> createDescriptions(Iterable<String> objects) async {
  for (var object in objects) {
    try {
      var file = File('$object.txt');
      if (await file.exists()) {
        var modified = await file.lastModified();
        print(
            'File for $object already exists. It was modified on $modified.');
        continue;
      }
      await file.create();
      await file.writeAsString('Start describing $object in this file.');
    } on IOException catch (e) {
      print('Cannot create description for $object: $e');
    }
  }
}

You can also use async*, which gives you a nice, readable way to build streams.

Stream<String> report(Spacecraft craft, Iterable<String> objects) async* {
  for (var object in objects) {
    await Future.delayed(oneSecond);
    yield '${craft.name} flies by $object';
  }
}

Read more about asynchrony support, including async functions, Future, Stream, and the asynchronous loop (await for).

Exceptions

To raise an exception, use throw:

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if (astronauts == 0) {
  throw StateError('No astronauts.');
}

To catch an exception, use a try statement with on or catch (or both):

try {
  for (var object in flybyObjects) {
    var description = await File('$object.txt').readAsString();
    print(description);
  }
} on IOException catch (e) {
  print('Could not describe object: $e');
} finally {
  flybyObjects.clear();
}