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Gene
Gene

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We should get rid of Typescript

I mean, IDEs or Code Editors should be intelligent enough to actually help us type-safe our code, and as well as auto-complete right?

Am I wrong? :D

Top comments (52)

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eshimischi profile image
eshimischi

We should get rid of idea of getting rid of TS.

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gene profile image
Gene • Edited

Not really. I think you should welcome such ideas. After all, TS was introduced and adopted... so why can't it be the other way around? Isn't that how tech works.

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eshimischi profile image
eshimischi

I don't want to. I like TS and studied it not for nothing, you know. Tech works how vendors want it to work - i mean Google, Apple, Microsoft and etc.

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gene profile image
Gene

Valid. And that's okay. But stopping others is wrong.

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eshimischi profile image
eshimischi

Well you've created this post for opinions. I'm not stopping anyone, just making my opinion as you and others do.

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gene profile image
Gene

Hope that's really the case because I got that vibe from your posts. If I am mistaken, then I am wrong. :) Thanks for the opinions

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daelmaak profile image
Daniel Macák

I think it's a good idea in certain projects and in general if the native types proposal makes it past stage 2.

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eshimischi profile image
eshimischi

Well first - it is not "the native types" proposal. JS won't ever be "strongly typed" language as TS..

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gene profile image
Gene

That was never the intention of JS in case you missed it.

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daelmaak profile image
Daniel Macák

By native I mean that the type information won't make your program un-executable in the native environment, eg. in browser. The proposal aims at providing the type information in a form that can be ignored, just like JSDoc is.

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overflow profile image
overFlow

I'm with you there. There is many other languages we need to get rid of. But before them; let us start here with type script.
What if JS could do Types??? Maybe that is what should happen.

BTW- I see you do React. Do you do any JS?
Or any other languages and did you just start with React if you do other languages ?
Just curious because I'm a JS aficionado.

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syeo66 profile image
Red Ochsenbein (he/him)

Javascript with types... is basically Typescript. But should the browser parse the types? What about the overhead of doing that? Or will we require a build step to strip out the types to have smaller files? Isn't that just Typescript again?

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overflow profile image
overFlow

yeah and then I don't have to learn type-script. I would only learn JavaScript which has type script. i think. we have to concat all these languages if we are to put our energies and knowledged together in one place to reach alien technology knowledgy!!!!

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syeo66 profile image
Red Ochsenbein (he/him)

If learning is your problem you might have quite some trouble in this industry

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overflow profile image
overFlow

true ....if and only if ...and there is relativity to the subject matter ....There is learning something completely different but then there is learning something that is a knock off and unnecessary. The industry is not gonna go anywhere anytime soon.

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syeo66 profile image
Red Ochsenbein (he/him)

Unnecessary? Why? I lerned Elixir and it changed my approach to Javascript. So, learning other styles changes the way you think. Also whatever the type hints in JS will look like, they will take notes from Typescript. There are only so many ways to go about implementing types. Learn the fundamentals, the rest is just syntax. So, when you believe types in Javascript will not require you to learn additional things you'd be very disappointed.

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overflow profile image
overFlow

When there is so many languages which one are you going to master very well including the frameworks?!

I feel like the industry is not focused. I feel like there will be a lot of people who know everything- but just acquainted.
It’s like speed dating versus marriage

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syeo66 profile image
Red Ochsenbein (he/him)

I feel like you're missing the point. At some point you will realize languages and frameworks are just tools... and they'll change over the years. I went through a lot of those changes already, Java Applets, Flash, PHP, jQuery, React, Next.js, Javascript, ES6+, Typescript, (and probably many more technologies I forgot about). You get good with the things you use daily and learn stuff you'd like to work with in the future. Along the way you realize you stop learning everything from scratch all the time but just learn the differences from what you already know. Because there are only so many things new frameworks and languages really can invent. But why does this even happen? Why do so many languages and frameworks pop up? Simple: Because different people and different applications do have different needs.
So, stop worrying about mastering everything you work with. It will probably be obsolete at some point anyways. One thing never gets obsolete: The fundamentals.

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gene profile image
Gene

For me, I still don't want anything to do with types if I use JS. I'd rather let the IDE/Code editors do it for me.

Yes I do a lot of JS. I use Typescript a lot (2+ years).

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lionelrowe profile image
lionel-rowe • Edited

You can already (partially) do this in VS Code with the Deno extension (and probably other TS-related extensions) — just add // @ts-check at the top of your JS file. Then you can use "Infer types from usage" to get JSDoc type annotations. It won't be able to infer everything, but works well enough for many everyday use cases.

You can also do the same thing in TS files (except the annotations will be TS ones rather than JSDoc, and you don't need to use // @ts-check).

Image description

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gene profile image
Gene

Oh my this is nice! However, what I probably want is overall extinction of Typescript. Haha. TS is really good but...

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algot profile image
AlgoT

But why add all this clutter if you could just have clean TS types + build-time checks?

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lionelrowe profile image
lionel-rowe

As I say, it works with TypeScript just as well as with JSDoc. Personally I usually go with TS, but depends on your personal preference and the needs of your project as to which you choose. I'm just responding to the idea that text editors/IDEs can never infer types from usage, which is wrong.

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avinashega profile image
Avi

Surprise surprise! VSCode uses Typescript tooling under the hood to achieve that!

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gene profile image
Gene

Of course. What else is there?

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daelmaak profile image
Daniel Macák

Depends. If you use JSDoc, sure the hints provided by it are enough to typecheck and autocomplete, as long as you use it everywhere where the JS alone is not enough to infer the types.

If you don't use JSDoc or any other way to declare static types, a substantial part of your codebase won't be possible to be statically typechecked and therefore you won't get coding assistance.

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tiengtinh profile image
Tinh Ngo

I think typescript aren't merely for the sake of type-safety, but rather, a beacon for code comprehension. Types contribute in conveying the author's original intentions, making it easier for future readers to understand the code and for maintainers to make safe changes.

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gene profile image
Gene

That's documentation.

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tiengtinh profile image
Tinh Ngo

That's right. The code is the best source of documentation.

Expressiveness stair:
Image description

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gene profile image
Gene

Consulting Documentation should be "best" though.

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leob profile image
leob

No ... it's powerful, and it definitely has its place on more complex projects. Not saying it should be used on every project, but I'm using it on a project now and I definitely feel it has benefits there.

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thecheapaudiophile profile image
Griff Polk

Just make JS have Types! But I like typescript 😅

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gene profile image
Gene

Haha then that defeats the purpose.

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thecheapaudiophile profile image
Griff Polk

Javascript or Typescript

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thecheapaudiophile profile image
Griff Polk

Yeah, hang on. I have an image that defines this.

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raguay profile image
Richard Guay • Edited

A good enough linter (which is just the first part of a compiler) can infer types and auto assign them. Then tell you when a type is being misused. But, I haven't seen a linter that is that good yet. Sad, since there are compilers for some languages with they type of ability. I believe the real issue is that linters are designed to be fast to process the code as you type. But, doing that much checking would make them too slow.

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nermin_karapandzic profile image
Nermin Karapandzic

You are wrong. No the editors can never be smart enough without types and that's the biggest reason we need types. Is there a ton of shit in typescript: yes, should we get rid of it: no.

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gene profile image
Gene

Pretty sure they can.

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ludamillion profile image
Luke Inglis

How can they know the types with no type information?

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raldincasidar profile image
Raldin Casidar

I believe in this. Im with you

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gene profile image
Gene

\m/, and as well as others...