TypeScript is surprisingly ok for compilers

Post by scotty79 » Fri, Aug 18, 2023, 10:47 PM UTC

baq wrote: post #77

scotty79 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

var something = (() => { try { return mayThrow() } catch(SomeException ex) { log.Info(ex); return null; } catch(Exception ex) { log.Fatal(ex); throw; } })(); Close enough?

not really; can't immediately return from the lambda caller without throwing, always have to either try/catch anyway or if/else the return value of the lambda. (also, it's rather ugly to read and inconvenient to write.)

Post by AgentME » Sat, Aug 19, 2023, 3:09 AM UTC

hibbelig wrote: post #111

AgentME wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typescript is defined to run exactly as the equivalent Javascript you get when all the type declarations are stripped out of the source. There's no benefit in compiling it to WASM unless you had a WASM JS engine (or JS->WASM converter) that executed the JS faster than the browser's built-in JS engine (or created WASM binaries that were smaller than compressed minified JS, which seems extra unlikely when you'd have to…

Your parent suggested to make changes to TS so that TS is no longer compatible with JS (in the sense you described). Once that happens, compiling to WASM instead of transpiling to JS is a very valid design choice.

Post by thebears5454 » Sat, Aug 19, 2023, 5:12 AM UTC

agloe_dreams wrote: post #129

rtpg wrote: post #4

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 type system is fun right up until you are using it to its full ability in generics..then you look at the 5 lines of 'type logic' you spent the last day debugging and ask yourself how you got here.

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 19, 2023, 6:27 AM UTC

ComputerGuru wrote: post #226

foldr wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a five times speedup. I wouldn't expect a typical 'compiled' language to run five times faster than JavaScript on the kind of code you find in a compiler.

You are excluding startup time. Loading the interpreter/runtime and initial JIT pass is slow . For many codebases, the compilation time is actually dominated by the time it takes the interpreter to get going.

Post by metalforever » Sat, Aug 19, 2023, 8:02 AM UTC

postalrat wrote: post #224

metalforever wrote: post #134

It’s just not the right tool for the job .

It's the perfect tool for the job.