[dart-misc] Snapshots in Dartium - Aw, Snap!

[Si Robertson]

Hi guys,

I just tried running a Dart snapshot in Dartium (Chromium) and it failed to
run, the Dart VM appeared to choke on the binary file. Is this a bug or is
it not possible to run snapshots in a web browser?

Thanks.

[Frank Rollpin]

I apologize for resurrecting an old topic, but I wonder if this is a
supported scenario? I am interested in using it mostly for performance
considerations (my app works much faster in Dartium than when compiled to
JS), and I don't want to ship Dart code with it.

On a similar subject, it would be awesome to be able to use Dartium
similarly to Electron (Dart VM + dart.html + dart.io) for shipping desktop
application. Is there a chance for that happening some day?

Post by Si Robertson
Hi guys,
I just tried running a Dart snapshot in Dartium (Chromium) and it failed
to run, the Dart VM appeared to choke on the binary file. Is this a bug or
is it not possible to run snapshots in a web browser?
Thanks.

['Bob Nystrom' via Dart Misc]

I am interested in using it mostly for performance considerations (my app
works much faster in Dartium than when compiled to JS)

Can you file an issue with some details about this?

It may be that the performance of the generated JS is slow for some
solvable reason beyond just the Dart VM being faster than V8.

Is there a chance for that happening some day?


No, I don't think so.

Dartium has only ever been intended as a development tool. That has a very
different set of requirements than a browser intended for real-world end
users. The latter implies a ton more effort around security hardening,
performance on low-end devices, and generally much higher maintenance
burden. Though it would be neat, I don't think we have the capacity to take
that on.

Cheers!

– bob

[Frank Rollpin]

Filed a detailed issue describing the 6x difference in performance between
DartVM and JS in certain scenarios; hopefully there is a way to alleviate
the problem...

https://github.com/dart-lang/sdk/issues/27196

Post by 'Bob Nystrom' via Dart Misc

I am interested in using it mostly for performance considerations (my app
works much faster in Dartium than when compiled to JS)

Can you file an issue with some details about this?
It may be that the performance of the generated JS is slow for some
solvable reason beyond just the Dart VM being faster than V8.
Is there a chance for that happening some day?
No, I don't think so.
Dartium has only ever been intended as a development tool. That has a very
different set of requirements than a browser intended for real-world end
users. The latter implies a ton more effort around security hardening,
performance on low-end devices, and generally much higher maintenance
burden. Though it would be neat, I don't think we have the capacity to take
that on.
Cheers!
– bob