It started out as a compile to js language (think coffeescript), then they created a vm for it. Google made dart so that they wouldn't have to directly compete with react native/cordova.
That's actually the exact opposite of reality: Dart was a retention project for Lars Bak, and it was designed specifically with a focus on being able to make a fast VM implementation. The goal from the beginning was to have native support in browsers (they even got an ECMA standard for it!), and support compile-to-js as a polyfill until browsers had native support, but they couldn't convince any of the other vendors and so not even Chrome supported it. Some time after that, Lars Bak left Google.
murderfs|4 years ago