typescript

What is typescript?

The TypeScript npm package is a superset of JavaScript that compiles to clean JavaScript output. It adds optional static typing to JavaScript, which can help with the development of large-scale applications and lead to more robust code. TypeScript is designed for the development of large applications and transcompiles to JavaScript.

What are typescript's main functionalities?

Static Type Checking

TypeScript allows you to define types for your variables and function parameters, which helps catch errors at compile time rather than at runtime.

let isDone: boolean = false;

Classes and Interfaces

TypeScript supports modern JavaScript features like classes and interfaces, allowing for more structured and maintainable code.

class Animal {
  name: string;
  constructor(theName: string) { this.name = theName; }
  move(distanceInMeters: number = 0) {
    console.log(`${this.name} moved ${distanceInMeters}m.`);
  }
}

Modules

TypeScript provides support for modules, enabling you to organize your code into separate files and manage dependencies more effectively.

import { ZipCodeValidator } from './ZipCodeValidator';
let myValidator = new ZipCodeValidator();

Generics

Generics enable you to create reusable components that work with a variety of types rather than a single one.

function identity<T>(arg: T): T {
  return arg;
}

Advanced Types

TypeScript offers advanced types like intersection types, union types, and mapped types, which provide powerful ways to work with your data structures.

type Tree<T> = {
  value: T;
  left: Tree<T>;
  right: Tree<T>;
};

Tooling Support

TypeScript integrates with many editors and provides features like autocompletion, type checking, and source navigation, enhancing the development experience.

n/a

Other packages similar to typescript

flow-bin

Flow is a static type checker for JavaScript. It provides similar functionality to TypeScript, offering static typing in JavaScript, but it uses a different syntax and type system.

babel-preset-typescript

Babel preset for TypeScript allows Babel to parse and transpile TypeScript code. While Babel itself is mainly a JavaScript compiler, this preset brings TypeScript support to Babel's ecosystem.

coffeescript

CoffeeScript is a language that compiles into JavaScript. It provides syntactic sugar inspired by Ruby, Python, and Haskell to enhance JavaScript readability and brevity. It does not offer static typing but focuses on cleaner syntax.

elm

Elm is a functional language that compiles to JavaScript. It emphasizes simplicity and quality tooling, and while it is not a direct alternative to TypeScript's type system, it offers strong typing and eliminates runtime exceptions.

dart

Dart is an object-oriented, class-defined, garbage-collected language using a C-style syntax that transcompiles optionally into JavaScript. It includes static typing and is developed by Google, often used for building web and mobile applications.

README

TypeScript

Scalable JavaScript development with types, classes and modules.

Install

npm install -g typescript

Usage

tsc hello.ts