131–140 of 245 posts
TS's type system is fun but a part of me always wonders how much faster TS's compiler would be if it was written in a compiled language (assuming "good implementation", which is a big assumption!)
The reason we need to buy new hardware every few years, and fill landfills with our old stuff, is because of ideas like “let’s use JavaScript to write a compiler!”
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I actually argue JS was a better language before all of the changes made, starting with const/let. The only thing I'd say makes sense are classes but the fact they aren't syntax sugar over prototypes was a mistake. People wanted a different language, they should have gotten more scripting languages in the browser. Not changing JavaScript so much that it's no longer JavaScript.
> aren't syntax sugar They aren't syntactic sugar? Pretty sure `class Foo { blah() {} }` is equivalent to `function Foo() {}; Foo.prototype.blah = function() {}`.
These differences let you extend built-in things that simply can't be done with old prototype constructor syntax. [1]
[O] I should probably be using a more recent reference like MDN, but the 2ality series always sticks out in my mind whenever "just syntax sugar" comes up: https://2ality.com/2015/02/es6-classes-final.html#safety-che...
[1] https://2ality.com/2015/02/es6-classes-final.html#subclassin...
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The biggest expressivity pain point in practice for me is try/catch not being an expression, so I can’t do const c = try { … }
What does a try expression like this do? Returns null/undefined on a throw? I suspect you could do something like: const c = attempt(() => ... ); where attempt invokes the lambda, catches any exceptions, and does what you want
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The biggest expressivity pain point in practice for me is try/catch not being an expression, so I can’t do const c = try { … }
With async code, there is const c = myAsyncFun() .catch(e => …)
I'm sick of seeing overly complicated TypeScript code. Mainly overly complicated types.
It's not the frontend glue-code kind of code. The inherently hard problem makes is fun for people who like to solve small puzzles.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually argue JS was a better language before all of the changes made, starting with const/let. The only thing I'd say makes sense are classes but the fact they aren't syntax sugar over prototypes was a mistake. People wanted a different language, they should have gotten more scripting languages in the browser. Not changing JavaScript so much that it's no longer JavaScript.
> aren't syntax sugar They aren't syntactic sugar? Pretty sure `class Foo { blah() {} }` is equivalent to `function Foo() {}; Foo.prototype.blah = function() {}`.
TS's type system is fun but a part of me always wonders how much faster TS's compiler would be if it was written in a compiled language (assuming "good implementation", which is a big assumption!)
TypeScript's compiler _is_ written in a compiled language.
(I think you are using "compiled" here as a euphemism—one that doesn't help anyone.)
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> This is why once WebAssembly more polished and more common, languages like JS and TS could become obsolete since proper, more powerful languages will suddenly become a valid choice for Web. JavaScript and TypeScript are not "proper" languages? Different languages are powerful in different use case dimensions (tradeoffs), and the typical client-side web programming has a very very strong UI angle, which many "more p…
JavaScript's redeeming quality is that it is ubiquitous due to being used by browsers. I don't think anybody credibly claims it to be a language we would want to use if we were to redesign web programming from scratch today
TypeScript is an incredible language in general. The fact that Functions are Objects that can have properties/methods is supremely undervalued. Are there other languages that do this so nicely? It's the perfect blend of OO and functional. Programming is mostly about gradually figuring out the right design I find. JS/TS let's me evolve things naturally without big rewrites. function foo() {} function bar() {} function…
Python, where everything is an object.