> I'm willing to accept the basic hypothesis that's static typing makes for less runtime errors. The type system in well thought out languages like elm or rust makes coding in them pretty simple. I don't think that typescript's type system is good enough to actually deliver on this promise.
I can only share my experience in multiple companies and products that it does deliver and it can result in a dramatic decrease of defects.
> I'm sure that this is partly due to my own lack of understanding. Typing is basically a huge add-on to the cognitive load when using this superset. [...] Of course, it could just be that I'm not very good at typescript. But it's a new technology, and it's very possible to find yourself on a project with people who aren't that experienced with it.
Tools don't come for free. You need to understand TypeScript in order to use it effectively. In my experience having at least a couple senior or principal developers with TypeScript proficiency makes a huge difference, not just because they can assist and guide you, but because with TypeScript they can create a well typed ecosystem that results in it being easier for developers to code safely and following a well thought-out architecture (or rather, make it harder to not do it right), and set up linters & autofixers and other tooling to make things even easier.
> Additionally, I think the type system really pushes you towards object oriented programming. This is fundamentally at odds with the way most people write ReactJS.
I'm curious what gives you this impression. The codebases I've worked with are heavily functional, with very little OO code —sometimes it makes sense— and if anything TS helps us do FP better.
I can only share my experience in multiple companies and products that it does deliver and it can result in a dramatic decrease of defects.
> I'm sure that this is partly due to my own lack of understanding. Typing is basically a huge add-on to the cognitive load when using this superset. [...] Of course, it could just be that I'm not very good at typescript. But it's a new technology, and it's very possible to find yourself on a project with people who aren't that experienced with it.
Tools don't come for free. You need to understand TypeScript in order to use it effectively. In my experience having at least a couple senior or principal developers with TypeScript proficiency makes a huge difference, not just because they can assist and guide you, but because with TypeScript they can create a well typed ecosystem that results in it being easier for developers to code safely and following a well thought-out architecture (or rather, make it harder to not do it right), and set up linters & autofixers and other tooling to make things even easier.
> Additionally, I think the type system really pushes you towards object oriented programming. This is fundamentally at odds with the way most people write ReactJS.
I'm curious what gives you this impression. The codebases I've worked with are heavily functional, with very little OO code —sometimes it makes sense— and if anything TS helps us do FP better.