That's very different from Javascript (and from the untyped-language mainstream) but is it really "horrible"? The type-checker will give a very clear warning i

That's very different from Javascript (and from the untyped-language mainstream) but is it really "horrible"? The type-checker will give a very clear warning if it catches you putting a non-bool in a conditional context. And make no mistake: the type checker is an important part of the Dart development process. (One downside of this is that it does push you to working in the -- Eclipse-derived -- DartEditor, which isn't always a wonderful experience. However, the type checker is exposed and available, and there's nothing to prevent it being tightly integrated into other editors or IDEs.)