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Having done a number of projects in python and node.js, I am missing an interactive interpreter/console in dart that those languages, as well as other like ruby, provide so nicely.

Tests, logging, debuggers, profilers are the instruments we use in application development while digging into issues or trying things out. But in scripting, in server side scripting, it is the interpreter that is the primary tool to try things out. Having experience from both, software development with a long list of languages and a number of scripting domains (python and bash for admin functions, node for http request evaluation, R for data analysis etc.), I fail to see how, if server side scripting is to be taken seriously, any language not providing an interpreter/console can hope for any sensible share of the pie.

Is dart not intended for scripting or am I just missing something obvious?

PS. There is (was) one project addressing the issue, but it did not see any development for the past 3 years: https://github.com/sam-mccall/dart-console

Oleg Sklyar
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  • @TinyGiant {Java}[C#] is not intended to be used by humans. It was written by {sun}[microsoft] to be used by robots to write other robots in order to take over the planet and hook us all up to machines to be used as a power source while our minds are hooked into a virtual reality simulation without our knowledge. What exactly is the point? – Oleg Sklyar Oct 23 '15 at 20:53

2 Answers2

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As far as I know the REPL for the Dart language was not originally planned by the development team. The discussion on the REPL took place back in 2012 with no real outcome:

Github: Dart needs a REPL

So the answer is, there exists no interactive interpreter/console for Dart and it does not look like there are any plans to create one.

Oleg Sklyar
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  • Thanks for the link! The thread does not shed any light onto whether there will be anything in the future, but it seems to answer clearly that there is nothing like that right now. – Oleg Sklyar Oct 23 '15 at 17:24
  • There **exists** an interactive console for Dart since today - I have written one :) https://github.com/fzyzcjy/dart_interactive – ch271828n Oct 23 '22 at 04:04
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Observaory, Dartium, and WebStorm debugger allow to interactively execute Dart code.

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Günter Zöchbauer
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  • None of these address my question. Browser-based solutions are not solutions for scripting; the REPL thread finally comes down to either the latter or to the project that I mentioned in my question and the debugger based execution of code snippets is worlds apart from the use of an interpreter console. So the actual answer is No, there is nothing like that. or No, I have no idea. Is that correct? – Oleg Sklyar Oct 23 '15 at 17:19
  • That's what's available. – Günter Zöchbauer Oct 23 '15 at 17:21
  • So the answer is no, there is nothing available. I cannot express enough how unfortunate it is, but will go ask the dart team directly. – Oleg Sklyar Oct 23 '15 at 17:31
  • You can use the WebStorm or IntelliJ IDEA debugger for server side development as well as the Observatory. That it doesn't work in the console without any development tools may not be what you want, this doesn't mean there is nothing. I like Dart for server side development and scripting. Didn't miss interpreter mode one second. – Günter Zöchbauer Oct 23 '15 at 17:37