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Comment by slackingoff2018 | Hacker News Reader

slackingoff2018

I don't think so, or at least it doesn't feel like it. Typescript's type inference is so good that you only need types maybe 15% of the time. It also has shortcuts like constructor property initializers and support for async even when targeting ES5.

I would bet money that you actually write less code with Typescript than regular javascript because of all the streamlining and shortcuts. And with the type inference you almost get static typing for free.

I hear this argument come up frequently against TS and all I can say is I'm fairly sure it's from people that haven't used it.

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Sometimes it's also from people who use JavaScript in a more functional context, e.g. with currying. Suddenly it requires a lot of effort to still have TypeScripts benefits. https://gist.github.com/donnut/fd56232da58d25ceecf1

I've been working with Typescript for the past six months. Javascript is starting to shine as a functional programming language, and the communities who develop the useful tools that we actually need are moving in that direction too.

Typescript feels like a step in a completely different direction. The problems that TS tries to solve have other solutions. Solutions more idiomatic to javascript development. Redux style architectures, grouping code by feature, libraries over frameworks, GraphQL and so on. And these solutions are solid and dependable. Unlike the made up brittle and often incorrectly defined types that Typescript and Flow demand. If you want to use Typescript, then I hope you really really REALLY like Generics, because they're absolutely everywhere in Typescript. They're the solution to the fundamental flaw with TypeScirpt, it wasn't designed with the actual job that Javascript does in mind.

It's Javascript for people who don't like Javascript and don't care to learn it. Well that's fine, each to their own. But people sing it's virtues without pointing out any of the flaws in both the approach or the implementation (maybe because they simply don't see anything wrong), and that really rustles my jimmies.

It absolutely is a step in a different direction.

Not a bad one, but very intentionally different.

I personally prefer a style/practice that doesn’t work well with TS, but I appreciate it exists and typedef files for libraries are very nice for developing in things like VSCode.

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