dynamic is a type underlying all Dart objects. You shouldn't need to explicitly use it in most cases.
var is a keyword, meaning "I don't care to notate what the type is here." Dart will replace the var keyword with the initializer type, or leave it dynamic by default if there is no initializer.
Use var if you expect a variable assignment to change during its lifetime:
var msg = "Hello world.";
msg = "Hello world again.";
Use final if you expect a variable assignment to remain the same during its lifetime:
final msg = "Hello world.";
Using final (liberally) will help you catch situations where you accidentally change the assignment of a variable when you didn't mean to.
Note that there is a fine distinction between final and const when it comes to objects. final does not necessarily make the object itself immutable, whereas const does:
// can add/remove from this list, but cannot assign a new list to fruit.
final fruit = ["apple", "pear", "orange"];
fruit.add("grape");
// cannot mutate the list or assign a new list to cars.
final cars = const ["Honda", "Toyota", "Ford"];
// const requires a constant assignment, whereas final will accept both:
const names = const ["John", "Jane", "Jack"];
var, like final, is used to declare a variable. It is not a type at all.
Dart is smart enough to know the exact type in most situations. For example, the following two statements are equivalent:
String a = "abc"; // type of variable is String
var a = "abc"; // a simple and equivalent (and also recommended) way
// to declare a variable for string types
On the other hand, dynamic is a special type indicating it can be any type (aka class). For example, by casting an object to dynamic, you can invoke any method (assuming there is one).
(foo as dynamic).whatever(); //valid. compiler won't check if whatever() exists
(foo as var).whatever(); //illegal. var is not a type
One of aspect than can consider in comparison dynamic vs var is taking into account behavior when using var declaration with initialization at the same time there is not possibility to change type which in case of dynamic is.
But dynamic vs var is not the question what I would ask.
I would ask more what is difference between dynamic vs Object.
To clarify some of the previous answers, when you're declaring a variable as dynamic, it's type changes depending on what you assign to it. When you're declaring a var, the type is set once it's assigned something, and it cannot be changed after that.
For example, the following code:
dynamic foo = 'foo';
print('foo is ${foo.runtimeType} ($foo)');
foo = 123;
print('foo is ${foo.runtimeType} ($foo)');
will return the following result when run in DartPad:
foo is String (foo)
foo is int (123)
But the following code won't even compile:
var bar = 'bar';
print('bar is ${bar.runtimeType} ($bar)');
bar = 123; // <-- Won't compile, because bar is a String
print('bar is ${bar.runtimeType} ($bar)');
Long story short - use dynamic if you want a non-typed variable, use var when you want a typed variable with whatever type you assign to it.
dynamic:can change TYPE of the variable, & can change VALUE of the variable later in code.
var:can't change TYPE of the variable, but can change VALUE of the variable later in code.
final:can't change TYPE of the variable, & can't change VALUE of the variable later in code.
dynamic v = 123; // v is of type int.
v = 456; // changing value of v from 123 to 456.
v = 'abc'; // changing type of v from int to String.
var v = 123; // v is of type int.
v = 456; // changing value of v from 123 to 456.
v = 'abc'; // ERROR: can't change type of v from int to String.
final v = 123; // v is of type int.
v = 456; // ERROR: can't change value of v from 123 to 456.
v = 'abc'; // ERROR: can't change type of v from int to String.
This will work with no issues if you do the same using var instead of dynamic you will get an error since you can't change the data type because it is automatically assigned to the variable when initialized.
Looking at the previous answers I hope this can clarify/summarize everything:
There are the keywords var, final, and const. These are to declare a variable (to indicate its existence) (Side note: Declaration vs Initialization)
Then there are types like String, int, List, dynamic, etc. (The type indicates what kind of value the variable should hold, this is for type safety)
Usually, we declare a variable by explicitly stating its type:
String a; // a is now a String type
int b; // b is now an int type
But we can also use the var keyword. By default, this sets the type of the variable to whatever it is initialized with. (This is called type inference)
var a = "hello"; // a is now a String type
var b = 5; // b is now an int type
Now what happens when you try to declare a variable with the var keyword, but don't initialize a value? How is it supposed to infer a type? Well, there is also a type called dynamic. This is different than the usual String or int in the sense that it allows for the variable to be assigned a value of any type (Usually there will be an error).
String a = "hello"; // a is now a String type
// var a = "hello"; // Alternative way; same as the line above because its type is inferred to be String
a = 5 // error: A value of type 'int' can't be assigned to a variable of type 'String'
dynamic b; // b is now a dynamic type
b = "hello"; // still a dynamic type, but now its value is of type String (You can use b.runtimeType to check)
b = 5; // dynamic type, but now its value is of type int
So to address the original confusion regarding the quote from the article,
As you might know, dynamic (as it is now called) is the stand-in type when a static type annotation is not provided.
It just means that if you don't explicitly state its type (you use var to declare a variable) and do so without initialization, it simply infers its type as dynamic:
var b; // b is now a dynamic type, the following will not have any errors.
b = "hello";
b = 5;
b = true;
Other notes:
Not sure why people started talking about final and const, but I think the accepted answer here explains it well if you want to know more.
dynamic a; and var a; is effectively the same: They both declare a variable of dynamic type.
Two ways of checking the type of a variable is using the is operator and using .runtimeType which works differently. See the following example:
dynamic b; // b is now a dynamic type, no value
print(b is dynamic); // true
print(b is Null); // true
print(b is String); // false
print(b is int); // false
print(b.runtimeType); // Null
b = "hello"; // dynamic type, String value
print(b is dynamic); // true
print(b is Null); // false
print(b is String); // true
print(b is int); // false
print(b.runtimeType); // String
b = 5; // dynamic type, int value
print(b is dynamic); // true
print(b is Null); // false
print(b is String); // false
print(b is int); // true
print(b.runtimeType); // int
