Your first program

Learn to write your first Dart program with main and print.

The main function

Every Dart program starts from the void main() { ... } function. The code between the curly braces runs top to bottom when the program starts.

The void return type means the function returns no value. main is the special name the Dart runtime looks for; it cannot be changed.

The parentheses must be written even when empty. This structure is the skeleton of the program.

Write void main() with curly braces containing two print calls. The first line prints Started, the second prints Done.

Show example solution

void main() {
  print("Started");
  print("Done");
}

The print function writes its argument to the screen (standard output) and automatically adds a newline. So each print call produces a new line.

You can pass a string (double or single quoted), a number or a boolean inside the parentheses. Dart converts it to text automatically.

It is the tool you will use most while debugging: you add a print call to see a variable's value.

Output command

____('Learning Dart');

Show answer

print('Learning Dart');

Next lesson: dart run