1. Google Introduces Dart: A Structured Programming Language for the Web
JavaScript has been the language of the web for over a decade now. It’s provided us a facility for creating dynamic experiences and complex behaviors inside of our browsers. And recent advancements in JavaScript engines (such as Google’s V8 engine that powers its Chrome browser) have allowed us to push the boundaries of what was previously impractical.
However, JavaScript developers such as myself often have a love/hate relationship with the language. While JavaScript is simple, dynamic and usually a pleasure to write, it arguably lacks the structure, speed, security and features of many other languages. However, this shouldn’t be a surprise, considering JavaScript was created in essentially 10 days back in 1995.
Google’s recognized these weaknesses in the language that powers the web — which is why they’ve created the Dart programming language. Dart’s goals, as mentioned in Google’s blog post, are to ensure the language is structured yet flexible, familiar and natural to developers, and (probably most importantly) high performance. To accomplish this, Dart borrows ideas from languages such as Java, JavaScript and Smalltalk. 
But Dart faces a number of challenges. First is developer adoption. One reason JavaScript took off so quickly was it’s ease-of-use and low barrier to entry for developers. In order for Dart to fully gain support from developers, it first needs to be widely supported in browsers which I see as Google’s biggest obstacle. JavaScript is already so prevalent. Why should browser makers go through the trouble of supporting another language? Google needs to come up with some compelling reasons and examples of what Dart is capable of.
JavaScript has had a good run, and it will continue to. JavaScript needn’t die for Dart to succeed. Dart simply provides an alternative solution for creating a certain class of applications for the web. And while Dart has received its share of criticism, I’m convinced this is the direction the web needs to move in order fully realize the potential of this powerful platform.
2. Making Chrome Even More App-ealing
Speaking of web apps, Google’s been spending generous amounts of effort in exposing and enhancing Chrome’s ability to support web apps. Chrome is one of the most capable browsers out on the market. As such, it provides support for particular grade of applications that compete directly with their native counterparts.
In Google’s most recent release of Chrome, they’ve redesigned the New tab page to bring greater visibility to web apps. These apps are all installable via the (also redesigned) Chrome Web Store. This is a small step forward in the movement to make the web a serious platform for hosting rich applications.
But as it stands, this is a feature and platform specific to Chrome. And while it’s quite exciting and Chrome is slowly eating up more and more browser market share, we all know most of our users are not using Chrome. I’d like to see Google help create a standard for packaging up applications on the web, so that others have the ability for installing apps right in the browser of their choice.
3. Facebook Announces an HTML5 Resource Center
Facebook has put together a small yet comprehensive resource center for building HTML5 applications. The resource center is split into three sections: build, test and distribute. Each of these sections are broken into smaller bite-sized sections with high-level information on building, testing and distributing HTML5 experiences. The resource center also hosts an HTML5 showcase showing a small number of rich HTML5 applications. It’s important to note that the resource center isn’t just targeted toward developers — the content is actually quite accessible.
I’m curious as to the motivation behind such a resource center. Is Facebook looking to compete with the likes of Google at becoming the next platform on the web? Imagine Facebook creating their own browser.
4. Steve Jobs
There’s been a great deal of coverage and discussion over the passing of Steve Jobs, so I won’t dive too deep into this. But I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention Steve Jobs’ passing.
Jobs’ impact on the consumer electronics market is undeniably remarkable. His pursuit for perfection and creativity shines through so vividly in all of his creations. His garage-to-glory story exudes inspiration and determination. But I won’t just remember Steve merely for the iPhone in my pocket or the iPad on my coffee table. I’ll remember him for the opportunities he’s given us as creators of extraordinary experiences. He brought life into a stagnant mobile industry, bringing us closer to our customers. He redefined three categories of devices after the failures of others like Microsoft who spent a decade trying to determine what a tablet computer should be. And he stood up to all the doubting naysayers after Apple’s decision to push web standards rather than rely on proprietary third-party software like Adobe’s Flash. That’s how I’ll remember Steve.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read Mona Simpson’s (Steve’s sister) eulogy. But I’ll warn you, it’s a real tear jerker.
