Hello, future Dart-enthusiasts! Are you ready to start your journey with Dart? Today, we'll explore the basics of Dart — syntax and comments — and you'll have the opportunity to write and run your first simple Dart program.

Dart, a versatile and powerful programming language, will serve as our guide into the world of coding. Dart, developed by Google, powers the Flutter framework — renowned for its creation of visually stunning mobile applications.

Just as you need to understand grammar to construct sentences in any language, a comprehension of Dart syntax is essential to write Dart programs. Let's jump right in!

In Dart, we use statements to perform actions, and each statement ends with a semicolon (;). Dart uses curly braces ({}) to enclose a block of code.

Here's a simple example of Dart syntax:

Dart
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1void main() {
2  print('Hello, Dart World!');
3}

In this example, we're invoking the main function, which is the entry point of any Dart program, and where execution commences. It includes a single line of code that prints "Hello, Dart World!". Don't worry if it doesn't make complete sense at the moment. We will dissect it step-by-step in this lesson and the ones to come.

Comments are essential tools that programmers use to leave notes for themselves and for others who might interact with the code later. Since these comments do not affect the execution of the code, they serve merely as instructions or side notes. In Dart, we use // for single-line comments and /* */ for comments that extend over multiple lines.

Here's an example of how comments are used in Dart:

Dart
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1void main() {
2  // This is a single-line comment
3  /*
4    This is a multi-line comment
5    It can span multiple lines
6    Useful when you have a lot to say!
7  */
8  print('Hello, Dart World!'); // This line prints "Hello, Dart World!"
9}

Here, the text following // and the text between /* */ are ignored when running the program. We are using the print function to output the text "Hello, Dart World!" to the console.

Now, let's examine the first Dart program that you'll learn to write! We have previously seen this program:

Dart
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1void main() {
2  print('Hello, Dart World!');
3}

Here is what each part represents:

• void main() {}: This is the entry point of our program, known as the main function. When you run the Dart program, this function executes first.
• print('Hello, Dart World!');: This statement prints the text "Hello, Dart World!" to the console.

Congratulations on taking your first steps into the world of Dart programming! You've now learned about Dart's syntax, semicolons, and comments. You'll get the opportunity to practice and reinforce these concepts in the forthcoming activities, enabling you to write your first lines of Dart code. Remember, the path to mastery comprises numerous tiny steps, so don't be disheartened if you make mistakes. They're part of the learning process. Keep coding, and have fun!