Thursday, November 10, 2016

What is TypeScript and how different is it from JavaScript?

JavaScript is loosely typed. You can simply declare a varible. Loosely typed language can result in errors sooner or later in compilation. For exmaple if you declare the variable 'AGE', it could be written as an integer (25) or even as a string (twentyfive, twenty-five etc). In a typed language there is no ambiguity, 'AGE' will be declared as a varible of type int (for integer).

TypeScript is strongly (option) typed. TypeScript is Open Source. TypeScript does not enforce strong typing. Let us say you declare a variable 'Age' and later when you use it for first time use, such as age=25; the language takes 'Age' as an integer (a feature called Type Inference). Type Script also has advanced features like interfaces and generics.

The advantage of strongly typed language is that the compiler finds it easy to handle unambiguously resulting in easier maintenance and increased performance.

TypeScript 2.1 is in the process of being released with yet more new features. Check out the following post.

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