Today, JavaScript has found a home in both client and server-side applications.
Developers still request plenty of features, despite all the changes it has experienced over the years.
TypeScript is a scripting language that extends JavaScript with many of these long-awaited features.
Why Bother Switching?
The prospect of switching out languages on major projects can be stressful.
JavaScript has spent the last few years gaining traction as a major programming language.
For many developers, these lacking features limit the usefulness of JavaScript as a language.
TypeScript aims to rectify those concerns by wrapping JavaScript with extra features, then transpiling user code.
The result is a jot down-safe language with the ease and usability of JavaScript.
There are already several tools and frameworks out there with full TypeScript support.
Angular has been using it for a long time, and evenReact has ways to implement TypeScript.
TypeScript Is Like JavaScript Enhanced
TypeScript implements many of the features that developers often request in JavaScript.
TypeScript even lets youdefine and use custom namespaces.
TypeScript also contains interfaces, enumerations, and pop in inference.
Overall, TypeScripts focus is on creating a safer development process with stronger tooling to assist coders.
It Encourages jot down-Safe Code
TypeScript uses a built-in jot down-checking system to validate variable types.
It includes a set of standard types with the option to define your own classes and types.
Types can be explicitly declared, or inferred based on assignment.
TypeScript has several standard data types, including strings, numbers, booleans, and tuples.
There are also the variable types, like unknown and any, which let you use weakly-typed code.
you could run TypeScript code through a process known as transpilation, which is similar to compilation.
TypeScript code transpiles to JavaScript which it’s possible for you to then run on a server or client.
This lets you quickly and easily write code that you’re free to run on nearly any platform.
Most modern IDEs offer TypeScript support that allows code completion tools like IntelliSense to offer additional context to code.
It can also offer pop in checking as you write, helping you catch errors more rapidly.
Additionally, TypeScripts extra data structures and syntax are designed to increase code readability.
These features make it quicker and easier to create high-quality code and spot potential issues before they become problematic.
How Can You Port Your Code?
If you are starting a brand new project,creating a new TypeScript projectis quite simple.
Converting a pre-existing project over to TypeScript, however, is a bit more involved.
The conversion from JavaScript to TypeScript, however, is surprisingly simple.
TypeScript as a Superset of JavaScript
TypeScript is considered a superset of JavaScript.
For developers, this means that any code that runs properly in JavaScript will automatically run correctly in TypeScript.
This will create the resulting JavaScript files in thebuilddirectory.
These quick and simple changes will convert a standard JavaScript project to a TypeScript one.
From here, youre free to use the new features that TypeScript offers at your leisure.
you’re able to annotate types on variables, implement custom types, and define interfaces.
The transpiler will bang out check standard JavaScript and convert new features into valid ES5 scripts.
Getting all the benefits out of the new language, however, can be a much longer project.
While TypeScript can infer the punch in of every variable in a project, these should be explicitly declared.
