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Ask HN: Is TypeScript worth it?

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Re: Ask HN: Is TypeScript worth it?

#401

Post by dmak »

typesornotlol wrote: post #141

This post is a joke right? The world has moved on. JS *is* the target, but it is *no longer* the source. There is so much more to software development than the how quickly one can vomit code into their editor of choice. If typescript is slowing you down, your code is *bad*. End of story. Continually pretending that types don’t matter is laughable. The thousands of dynamic language projects with littered with type-hin…

I don't think you actually read OPs post. They were actually pro-types, but didn't like the overhead that comes with TypeScript.

Re: Ask HN: Is TypeScript worth it?

#402

Post by IshKebab »

dunno7456 wrote: post #282

I worked in two different team in two different companies where a full rewrite of the core system was done in typescript. The technology itself had few issues like compilation time and inability to run the application locally because of reasons. The new systems were so complicated that everything ended in neverending bike shedding. The people pushing for "everything to be written in typescript including other teams t…

> were a very inflexible crowd

Yes because Typescript is so obviously good. It's like saying "the pro-seatbelt people are a very inflexible crowd". Well duh!

Typescript compile time is not great but you can set things up so it doesn't block running (i.e. you ignore errors until you want to fix them). There's no issue with running Typescript locally.

> It's soul crushing...

It's soul crushing to work with people who don't want to do things properly. Endless string and duck tape (aka bash and python) and fighting fragile tools.

Re: Ask HN: Is TypeScript worth it?

#403

Post by IshKebab »

Cort3z wrote: post #284
sngz wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

try out dart, its much better than TS

How is it objectively "better"? This depends on context. I am sure Dart is worse given a specific condition. I'm not bashing dart, but you cannot say that "A is better than B" without any sort of context to the statement. It's like saying "apples are better than oranges".

Dart is better in most respects. The standard library is light years ahead of JS's, the Dart tooling is fantastic, it has sound typing.

There are a couple of features that I miss from Typescript: the biggest by far is tagged unions.

But I would still pick Typescript for a web project for two reasons:

* The community is like 1000x bigger. Even though a lot of it produces extremely low quality code, there's still a lot more solid JS libraries than Dart ones.

* Debugging is slightly easier since the compiled JS code is essentially identical to you TS code. Chrome has pretty great support for Dart, but if you ever have to delve into the generated JS it is quite painful.

Re: Ask HN: Is TypeScript worth it?

#404

Post by roberttod »

satvikpendem wrote: post #279
roberttod wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me clarify - I pretty much agree with what the parent says - "it's more like 70% BS vs. 30% value". I do still want that value i.e. static typing, but as you point out I can't get that without the BS. And so I would rather have no typing which is the only other option (except using a different language).

> And so I would rather have no typing which is the only other option (except using a different language). This part is what is so wild to me. I simply cannot imagine throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, to throw out the entirety of static typing just because of the BS around it. In my experience, static typing is superlative, it would have to be some extremely rare situation for me to give it up.

I spent 6 years programming production JS delivered to millions of people before I went to TS and it just wasn't that bad. The code was clean, and the team didn't ship many bugs - this was for a big frontend and ~12 microservices.

Webpack added a lot of overhead - but if you know what came before it, it was a godsend. React added a super complex library, vs Backbone which was only a few hundred lines of code but React is totally worth it.

I'm not just trying to hark back to "the good old days", I think the ecosystem is a big improvement from where it came from but I just haven't seen enough benefit from TS for all the work you need to put in.

Re: Ask HN: Is TypeScript worth it?

#405

Post by IshKebab »

chucklenorris wrote: post #59

As i said before, a lot of people expect that writing typescript is as easy as writing js, which is not. I estimate the typescript tax to be around 40-100% more time, especially if you want to do typescript right and not use `any` all over the place. And besides, typescript is a poor fit for someone who is used to writing highly dynamic, lambda based code, which is one of the main niceities of js. My guess is that a…

It's definitely "harder" to write TS in the sense that you have to learn more stuff and think about things more, but I seriously doubt it is any slower on anything except the smallest projects.

Any time you lose writing type hints you gain back from better IDE support and fewer bugs.

It's really a no brainer. I can only assume everyone here arguing against it works on one-man projects using Notepad.

Re: Ask HN: Is TypeScript worth it?

#406

Post by andoryuu »

chucklenorris wrote: post #139
incompletude wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These estimations are pure imagination. I doubt you have `any` real data to support it. Also, that is not the reason why Typescript was created, nor the reason why people adopt it, not even what Typescript really is. Today, almost every Node.js framework supports Typescript out of the box. I challenge you to provide a modern framework that doesn't provide types. And this is not an opinion, nor it is wishful thinking,…

I work with typescript everyday. I review prs, i mentor junior devs that are learning typescript. Ofcourse this is my experience, maybe yours is different, if so please tell me about it. The only thing i said is that there is an upfront cost in velocity that people are usually not considering when they are choosing to use ts over js. Sure, that cost may be amortised in fewer bugs and easier collaboration across large…

If someone cannot reason about types when forced to, I wouldn't want to see their code _without_ typescript.

Re: Ask HN: Is TypeScript worth it?

#408

Post by dmak »

nforgerit wrote: post #400
dmak wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly what I struggle a lot with. I just want JavaScript with simple type checking. TypeScript goes way overboard. I also hate TypeScript decorators. I've seen that grossly abused in codebases that just drive my insane.

Maybe we should just jump to a different timeline in which Facebook's Flow won the war against TS

That would have been the best outcome IMO.

Re: Ask HN: Is TypeScript worth it?

#410

Post by IshKebab »

jamil7 wrote: post #285
adminu wrote: post #261

Hoenstly, for production code, TS makes me sleep better. No matter how many tests you write, that one undefined object will get you at some point. TS helps to eliminate a complete set at compile time (as you know) and that's great! Anecdotal evidence from my Haskell experience: If my Haskell programs compiled, they usually worked. Which is amazing. Powerful types for the win.

> Anecdotal evidence from my Haskell experience: If my Haskell programs compiled, they usually worked. Which is amazing. Powerful types for the win. I have the same feeling regarding Haskell, Elm and Swift, the latter I program in 99% of the time. I really don't feel like I get the same sense of security from Typescript, to be honest. Maybe I'm not using it correctly? I tend to lean more towards OP's opinion. I would…

I agree Typescript doesn't give "if it compiles it works" but it does give "if it compiles there aren't totally noddy errors like typos". And it gives you a codebase that is understandable and maintainable which JavaScript does not.
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