IT Updates

Google has launched a preview version of a new Web programming language, called Dart, which the company's engineers hope will address some of the shortcomings of the widely used JavaScript language.

Google's goals for Dart are to create "a structured yet flexible language for Web programming," wrote Lars Bak, who is a software engineer for Google's Dart team, in a blog post officially announcing the language Monday.

Although Bak did not mention JavaScript by name, Dart's capabilities resemble those of JavaScript, though they also address some of the scalability and organizational issues that have been associated with JavaScript. In leaked memos, Google engineers have expressed frustration over "fundamental flaws that cannot be fixed by merely evolving" JavaScript.

Dart is not Google's first foray into creating a new programming language to address the shortcomings of older ones. In 2009, the company debuted Go, which the company's engineers created as an alternative to the complexities of C++, Java and other traditional languages.