Nowadays, more and more web projects are written with TypeScript instead of so popular JavaScript. Let’s find out the reasons and highlight some advantages and disadvantages.

In programming, the TypeScript language fixes the possible discrepancies which appear in JavaScript because of its freedom. TypeScript code looks similar to JS code, and with some development experience, it is easy to learn TypeScript. You can compile TS code to JS with a couple of clicks. By using TS, the programmers gain a better, more powerful version of the frontend language, suitable for developing projects for absolutely any browser.

Strengths and weaknesses of TypeScript

Static typing, meaningful JS, developer tools, readable native code, and ease of understanding put the language in the top ten most popular languages. If you wish to go deeper into TS vs JS, check this detailed review.

It is worth noting that TS is an open-source solution that is widely supported by the community of enthusiasts, giving it the possibility of rapid development and gaining the leading market positions. If you love and hate JS, you need to get familiar with TS.   The reasons, why TypeScript appears is the wishes of the developers’ community to improve the weaknesses of JS.

TS advantage

Of course, these two languages are related to object-oriented programming, but TS uses strong typization that again speaks to its functionality. The language also uses features such as field definition in the constructor, abstract classes, generalization, and three access modifiers: private, public, and protected.

Although large companies are widely using JS, they gradually moving to TS language. At first, it seems, that the creation and development of applications in TypeScript are more time-consuming and difficult. Also, the entry threshold for TS is higher – to take advantage of its benefits, it is important to know the types of data and TS syntaxis. But on the other side, as a result, the customers gain more stable, less vulnerable code.

BTW, the logic of TS is much more strict that the JS. The programmer has to think about the variable types in advance and cannot change them on the go, as JS coders usually do.

Where will you encounter TypeScript?

When using Angular: If a developer wants to use Angular tools, he will have to dive into TypeScript. You can, of course, continue to “Angular” in JavaScript, but it won’t be easy.

Other popular frameworks and libraries are not as categorical, but they all support development in TypeScript. On the one hand, this is entirely unsurprising since TypeScript, once compiled, turns into plain JavaScript. On the other hand, the contributors have spent valuable resources creating type classes.  If you are working with sophisticated structures, like fintech solutions, TS is the only language that can guarantee the minimization of code fragility. Read this article to know, how Haskellers use TS for their projects.

Many libraries, Redux, in particular, have been built in TypeScript first and assembled into NPM packages after compiling to JavaScript for the past several versions.

And TypeScript also allows methodical and predictable porting of the code base from JavaScript. We foresee developers maintaining legacy projects taking advantage of this, and then you’ll need to know TypeScript.

Why did we choose TypeScript?

We choose this language for its ability to show us bugs even at the stage of coding and compilation, saving time for development and sparing the users from bugs at runtime. No longer, ‘X’ is not a function. TypeScript also makes code easier to read and understand. You can program almost anything in TypeScript: mobile and desktop applications, backend, and frontend. That is why we choose TS. Despite the strict typing and FP logic, the language is still easy to understand and amazing because it is very much like JS we are used to, but with significant improvements.