Add a node compilation target

[buergerling]

dartjs compiles for use in the browser by making use of the self property. Running on node requires the manual addition of a preamble, which is an unacceptable procedure and runs counter to the purpose of a compiler. The user of the compiler cannot know what other problems need to be solved for execution on the node platform. Dart is advertised as a language that can also be executed on the server side. This issue is particularly relevant for serverless execution.

[dart-github-bot]

Summary: Users need a Node.js compilation target for dartjs. Currently, Node.js support requires manual preambles, hindering server-side and serverless use.

[bivens-dev]

Personally, rather than just trying to target Node specifically I would much much much rather see Dart target WASI (Web Assembly not in the browser) so that you could just import dart code like a standard library in Node, Rust, Go, C#, Ruby and a bunch of others without having to worry about preambles and a bunch of other concerns.

The WASI community is getting relatively close AFAIK to finalizing the stable 1.0 release of WASI and its corresponding cross language module format.

there is an existing issue for this here if you’re interested: #56366 and another one here: #53884

[nshahan]

Unfortunately the Dart web team does not currently have plans to support node as a compilation target out of the box. That said, there are packages from the community that help make this easier including:

• node_interop
• node_preamble

The Sass compiler https://github.com/sass/dart-sass has made use of these packages to produce a node module. Sass and other projects using these node Dart packages could serve as useful examples.

Dart is advertised as a language that can also be executed on the server side.

If you are referring to the dart compile js --server-mode flag it compiles without the dart:html library to produce JavaScript that doesn't contain any references to the browser DOM APIs to avoid errors when running the code in environments outside of a browser.

[iapicca]

Unfortunately the Dart web team does not currently have plans to support node as a compilation target out of the box. That said, there are packages from the community that help make this easier including:

• node_interop
• node_preamble

Unfortunately in my experience Dart community isn't what it used to be.

When I tried to reach out to the community
to ask guidance on build Node module to then create a spin component... since Dart doesn't support wasi
(I didn't ask "build me a solution", but rather "how do I get started")
the reaction range was between cold and off-topic*, but overall not helpful

*= team member arguing that wasi is just a scam sponsored by big tech (the irony)

The Sass compiler https://github.com/sass/dart-sass has made use of these packages to produce a node module.

this is very hard to read/use and the community didn't help

If you are referring to the dart compile js --server-mode flag it compiles without the dart:html library to produce JavaScript that doesn't contain any references to the browser DOM APIs to avoid errors when running the code in environments outside of a browser.

this it doesn't really integrate with a node module or anything like that

[nshahan]

this it doesn't really integrate with a node module or anything like that

I can confirm you're not missing anything. Our web tooling wasn't designed with the goal to compile individual Dart libraries into reusable JavaScript components that could be distributed as a Mode modules. The --server-mode flag I mentioned is a solution for compiling an entire application to be runnable on Node.