Effective TypeScript

Chapter 7. Writing and Running Your Code

This chapter is a bit of a grab bag: it covers some issues that come up in writing code (not types) as well as issues you may run into when you run your code.

Item 53: Prefer ECMAScript Features to TypeScript Features

The relationship between TypeScript and JavaScript has changed over time. When Microsoft first started work on TypeScript in 2010, the prevailing attitude around JavaScript was that it was a problematic language that needed to be fixed. It was common for frameworks and source-to-source compilers to add missing features like classes, decorators, and a module system to JavaScript. TypeScript was no different. Early versions included home-grown versions of classes, enums, and modules.

Over time TC39, the standards body that governs JavaScript, added many of these same features to the core JavaScript language. And the features they added were not compatible with the versions that existed in TypeScript. This left the TypeScript team in an awkward predicament: adopt the new features from the standard or break existing code?

TypeScript has largely chosen to do the latter and eventually articulated its current governing principle: TC39 defines the runtime while TypeScript innovates solely in the type space.

There are a few remaining features from before this decision. It’s important to recognize and understand these, because they don’t fit the pattern of the rest of the language. In general, I recommend avoiding them to keep the ...