• jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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    2 days ago

    “Use a different language” is a common defense of javascript, but kind of a weird one.

    • FooBarrington@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Not really, considering Typescript only adds static types to JS. It’s not a different language, it’s an extension.

      • Quibblekrust@thelemmy.club
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        2 days ago

        Since it needs to be compiled to JavaScript in order to be used, I kind of consider it a different language. Yes, it’s a strict superset of JavaScript, but that makes it different.

        • FooBarrington@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          That’s your prerogative, but it honestly doesn’t make sense. Typescript adds almost no functionality to JS (and the few pieces it adds are now considered mistakes that shouldn’t be used anymore). It only focuses on adding typing information, and in the future you’ll be able to run TS that doesn’t use those few added features as JS (see the proposal).

          You can also add the TS types as comments in your JS code, which IMO shows that it’s not a different language.