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I love TypeScript. I started using it around v1.0. Microsoft has hit some gold with it. When I first started using it I had lots of `any` in my code (like the Google employee is describing here). But over time it really starts being extremely clean.
Not a TypeScript user, but what really stood out to me is that Google are using a monorepo.
Not a TypeScript user, but what really stood out to me is that Google are using a monorepo.
This is a very outstandingly interesting line out the whole writeup.
I like the writeup in its entirety for being very balanced and thoughtful, but this line in particular really stands out to me as worth more thought for anyone interested in language and type system design.
Inference is great.
Except... when it's not. When it's "too much". When it starts making breaking changes appear "too distantly".
It's an interesting topic to reflect upon, because the inference isn't making a breakage; just shifting around where the breakage appears. (And this makes it hard to ever direct criticism at an inference mechanism!) But this kind of shifting-around of the breakage appearance can be a drastic impact on the ergonomics of handling it: how early it's detected, how close to the important change site tooling will be able to point the coder, etc. That's important. And almost everything about it involves the word "too" -- which means the area is incredibly subjective, and requires some kind of norm-building... while not necessarily providing any clear place for that norm-building to center around.
I don't have a point here other than to say this is interesting to reflect on. I suspect the last chapter on type inference systems has not yet been written. Can an inference system be designed such that it naturally restrains "too" much use of it?
Not a TypeScript user, but what really stood out to me is that Google are using a monorepo.
Google has a lot of tooling and some very thoroughly-considered and reinforced policies and cultures around their use of a monorepo. Trying to use a monorepo without those tools and ingrained policies may not be very likely to lead to similar results.
> (I might suggest the underlying problem in this code is relying on inference too much, but the threshold for "too much" is difficult to communicate to users.) This is a very outstandingly interesting line out the whole writeup. I like the writeup in its entirety for being very balanced and thoughtful, but this line in particular really stands out to me as worth more thought for anyone interested in language and typ…
That's a very valuable insight, and a concern in a lot of languages with advanced inference!
The problem is exacerbated in Typescript though because it is fundamentally a practical, evolved layer over Javascript, with an unsound type system that likes to bail out to any.
I'm currently trying to find a way to write (type safe) business logic once, then reuse it pretty much everywhere (mobile / web / desktop),and it seems to me that typescript has become the only option. Javascript runtime is present everywhere, and can interface with anything.
Does someone knows of another alternative (viable right now, or in the coming months) ? I know llvm can theoretically target any platform, including wasm, but how painfull is it in practice ? Can you write a line of code that does a network request then expect it to run as it is on the browser and on mobile platforms ?
> (I might suggest the underlying problem in this code is relying on inference too much, but the threshold for "too much" is difficult to communicate to users.) This is a very outstandingly interesting line out the whole writeup. I like the writeup in its entirety for being very balanced and thoughtful, but this line in particular really stands out to me as worth more thought for anyone interested in language and typ…
> (I might suggest the underlying problem in this code is relying on inference too much, but the threshold for "too much" is difficult to communicate to users.) This is a very outstandingly interesting line out the whole writeup. I like the writeup in its entirety for being very balanced and thoughtful, but this line in particular really stands out to me as worth more thought for anyone interested in language and typ…
Is this some TypeScript joke I'm too Hindley-Milner to understand?
A little off-topic: I'm currently trying to find a way to write (type safe) business logic once, then reuse it pretty much everywhere (mobile / web / desktop),and it seems to me that typescript has become the only option. Javascript runtime is present everywhere, and can interface with anything. Does someone knows of another alternative (viable right now, or in the coming months) ? I know llvm can theoretically targe…