TypeScript

Docs: https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs

Handbook: https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/intro.html

tip

To make compilation faster, enable incremental compilation with "incremental": true (at the compilerOptions of tsconfig.json). See https://www.typescriptlang.org/tsconfig#incremental. You can also set "tsBuildInfoFile": "./tsconfig.tsbuildinfo" to control the file name and location.

CLI

Setup: https://www.typescriptlang.org/download

Install locally, don't use a global install:

npm install --save-dev typescript
npm i -D typescript
yarn add --dev typescript

If we install it locally in our project, we can run that version using npx or yarn:

npx tsc
yarn tsc

--noEmit

Use --noEmit to only typecheck, without outputting JS files:

npx tsc --noEmit
yarn tsc --noEmit

It's common to have a 'typecheck' script on package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit"
  }
}

Run it with npm run typecheck.

--generateTrace to understand why compilation is slow

https://github.com/microsoft/typescript-analyze-trace

https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/Performance-Tracing

https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/Performance#performance-tracing

Install the package globally with npm install -g @typescript/analyze-trace.

npx tsc --noEmit --generateTrace trace
# If you have enabled incremental compilation (with "incremental": true, which
# generates the tsconfig.tsbuildinfo file) do this
npx tsc --noEmit --generateTrace trace --incremental false
# There's also the `--extendedDiagnostics` option too.
npx tsc --noEmit --generateTrace trace --incremental false --extendedDiagnostics

# Then analyze the trace to get the hot spots
npx analyze-trace trace

Run tsc on a specific files:

• https://www.npmjs.com/package/tsc-files
• Allow tsconfig.json when input files are specified - https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/27379
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44676944/how-to-compile-a-specific-file-with-tsc-using-the-paths-compiler-option

tsconfig.json

TSConfig Reference: https://www.typescriptlang.org/tsconfig

https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/tsconfig-json.html

Create tsconfig.json: npx tsc --init or yarn run tsc --init.

View the resulting configuration when using "extends": npx tsc -p tsconfig.json --showConfig source

tsconfig.json options to enable

"noImplicitReturns": true /* Report error when not all code paths in function return a value. */

Share tsconfig.json

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37579969/how-to-use-multiple-tsconfig-files-in-vs-code

├── tsconfig-base.json
├── server/
│   ├── tsconfig.json
├── client/
│   ├── tsconfig.json

// tsconfig-base.json
{
  "compilerOptions": {
  },
  "exclude": [],
  "include": []
}

// server/tsconfig.json or client/tsconfig.json
{
  "extends": "../tsconfig-base.json",
  "compilerOptions": {
  },
  "include": []
}

"strict": true

Setting strict to true in tsconfig.json (or using the tsc --strict flag) enables all this compiler options:

1. alwaysStrict
2. noImplicitAny
3. noImplicitThis
4. strictBindCallApply
5. strictFunctionTypes
6. strictNullChecks
7. strictPropertyInitialization
8. useUnknownInCatchVariables

To know which checks are enabled by 'strict' search for 'true if strict' here:

• https://www.typescriptlang.org/tsconfig
• https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/compiler-options.html

@ts-expect-error

From https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/release-notes/typescript-3-9.html#-ts-expect-error-comments

ts-ignore or ts-expect-error?

In some ways // @ts-expect-error can act as a suppression comment, similar to // @ts-ignore. The difference is that // @ts-ignore will do nothing if the following line is error-free.

You might be tempted to switch existing // @ts-ignore comments over to // @ts-expect-error, and you might be wondering which is appropriate for future code. While it’s entirely up to you and your team, we have some ideas of which to pick in certain situations.

Pick ts-expect-error if:

• you’re writing test code where you actually want the type system to error on an operation
• you expect a fix to be coming in fairly quickly and you just need a quick workaround
• you’re in a reasonably-sized project with a proactive team that wants to remove suppression comments as soon affected code is valid again

Pick ts-ignore if:

• you have a larger project and new errors have appeared in code with no clear owner
• you are in the middle of an upgrade between two different versions of TypeScript, and a line of code errors in one version but not another.
• you honestly don’t have the time to decide which of these options is better.

null or undefined?

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6604749/what-reason-is-there-to-use-null-instead-of-undefined-in-javascript

https://basarat.gitbook.io/typescript/recap/null-undefined

https://basarat.medium.com/null-vs-undefined-in-typescript-land-dc0c7a5f240a

Douglas Crockford: pick undefined, avoid null - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSGEjv3Tqo0&t=561s

https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/9653

https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/release-notes/typescript-2-0.html

https://dev.to/johannesjo/how-do-you-deal-with-null-vs-undefined-4899

https://github.com/nene/eslint-plugin-no-null

Gotcha. If we use undefined we don't get an error if we forget to initialize a field in a class constructor, but if we use null we do:

class User {
  name: string | null // GOOD - TS2564: Property 'country' has no initializer and is not definitely assigned in the constructor.
  country: string | undefined // BAD - No error :(

  constructor(name: string | undefined, country: string | null) {
    // We forgot to initialize the fields here:
    // this.name = name
    // this.country = country
  }
}

Show full expanded type

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57683303/how-can-i-see-the-full-expanded-contract-of-a-typescript-type

import type

From https://www.typescriptlang.org/tsconfig#verbatimModuleSyntax

The type modifier on imports and exports helps with these situations a bit. We can make it explicit whether an import or export is only being used for type analysis, and can be dropped entirely in JavaScript files by using the type modifier.

See this comment: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/39861#issuecomment-668131921

If you don’t have a specific need for type-only imports, you could consider them a stylistic choice. My personal suggestion for how to consider that stylistic choice is

• Best style: do not use import type. This style choice eliminates meaningless distinctions and reduces cognitive load, giving you more time and resources to think about things that matter.
• Second-best style: enable "importsNotUsedAsValues": "error" in your tsconfig, then use import type only where the errors force you to.
• Worst style: use import type as much as possible, separating values and types from the same module into separate import statements. There is simply no reason to do this, and since there are currently no tools that would enforce this style, it would fall on you to analyze and separate your declarations manually, wasting your valuable coding time.

Note that the config flag importsNotUsedAsValues is deprecated in TypeScript 5.5 in favor of verbatimModuleSyntax.

Excess property checking

For object literals.

https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/interfaces.html#excess-property-checks

type User = {
  id: number
  name: string
}

const user: User = {
  id: 1,
  name: 'Anna',
  password: 'abcd', // <- error
}
// TS2322: Type '{ id: number; name: string; password: string; }' is not assignable to type 'User'.
// Object literal may only specify known properties, and 'password' does not exist in type 'User'.

function printUser(user: User) {
  alert(user.name)
}

printUser({
  id: 1,
  name: 'Anna',
  password: 'abcd', // <- Same error as above
})

// Note that it doesn't work if we define an intermediate variable:
const data = {
  id: 1,
  name: 'Anna',
  password: 'abcd',
}
const user: User = data // No error here

Can be disabled:

• At tsconfig.json with suppressExcessPropertyErrors - https://www.typescriptlang.org/tsconfig#suppressExcessPropertyErrors
• At tsc with --suppressExcessPropertyErrors - https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/compiler-options.html

Definite assignment assertion operator !

Tell TypeScript that we'll assign a value to a field after declaring it, to avoid dealing with the error.

https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/release-notes/typescript-2-7.html#definite-assignment-assertions

https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/2/classes.html#--strictpropertyinitialization

https://refine.dev/blog/typescript-classes/#typing-fields-in-typescript

Useful in classes since we are required to set each field on the constructor. See https://stackoverflow.com/a/63549228/4034572

Make switch exhaustive

/**
 * Use it to ensure that a switch is exhaustive.
 * From https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39419170/how-do-i-check-that-a-switch-block-is-exhaustive-in-typescript
 */
// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
export function assertUnreachable(switchParameter: never): never {
  throw Error('Unreachable code violation')
}

Usage:

type Char = 'A' | 'B' | 'C'

function doSomething(char: Char): void {
  switch (char) {
    case 'A':
      break
    case 'B':
      break
    // case 'C' is missing
    default:
      // TS2345: Argument of type 'string' is not assignable to parameter of type 'never'.
      assertUnreachable(char)
  }
}

Here there are some ideas: https://basarat.gitbook.io/typescript/type-system/discriminated-unions

Classes

Arrow function property vs method

From https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/2/classes.html#arrow-functions

class MyClass {
  name = 'MyClass'
  getName = () => {
    return this.name
  }
}

This will use more memory, because each class instance will have its own copy of each function defined this way

Also see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51464318/arrow-function-vs-class-methods-memory-footprint

Exclude methods from classes

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/55479658/how-to-create-a-type-excluding-instance-methods-from-a-class-in-typescript

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59272031/how-to-define-typescript-partial-type-to-accept-only-properties

class Folder {
  name: string
  isPublic: boolean

  constructor(name: string, isPublic: boolean) {
    this.name = name
    this.isPublic = isPublic
  }

  // There are 3 ways to add an instance "method"

  // Method - folder.isPrivate()
  isPrivate(): boolean {
    return !this.isPublic
  }

  // Field - folder.isPrivate()
  isPrivate = () => {
    return !this.isPublic
  }
  // We can specify the type:
  isPrivate: () => boolean = () => {
    return !this.isPublic
  }

  // Getter - folder.isPrivate
  get isPrivate(): boolean {
    return !this.isPublic
  }
}

// All 3 options trigger this error:
// TS2741: Property 'isPrivate' is missing in type '{ name: string; isPublic: false; }' but
//   required in type 'Folder'.
const folder: Folder = {
  name: 'Documents',
  isPublic: false,
}

// We can exclude the methods with:
type ExcludeFunctionProperties<T> = Omit<
  T,
  { [K in keyof T]-?: T[K] extends Function ? K : never }[keyof T]
>

// The resulting type is {name: string, isPublic: boolean} if `isPrivate` is defined
// with a method or field, but will be {name: string, isPublic: boolean, isPrivate: boolean}
// if defined with the getter (so don't use getters!).
type FolderNoFunc = ExcludeFunctionProperties<Folder>

// No error "Property 'isPrivate' is missing..." here :)
const folderNoFunc: FolderNoFunc = {
  name: 'Documents',
  isPublic: false,
}

// TS2339: Property 'isPrivate' does not exist on type 'FolderNoFunc'.
folderNoFunc.isPrivate()

// We can use a Folder where it expects a FolderNoFunc, since a Folder has more properties:
function printFolderNoFunc(folderNoFunc: FolderNoFunc) {}
printFolderNoFunc(folder) // OK :)
// But we can't use FolderNoFunc where it expects Folder, we get the error:
// TS2345: Argument of type 'FolderNoFunc' is not assignable to parameter of type 'Folder'.
//   Property 'isPrivate' is missing in type 'FolderNoFunc' but required in type 'Folder'.
function printFolder(folder: Folder) {}
printFolder(folderNoFunc) // Error :(

Type guards / type narrowing

https://basarat.gitbook.io/typescript/type-system/typeguard

https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/2/narrowing.html

A user-defined type guard is a function whose return type is a type predicate.

export function isLoading<T>(arg: 'loading' | T | Error): arg is 'loading' {
  return arg === 'loading'
}

export function isSuccess<T>(arg: 'loading' | T | Error): arg is T {
  return arg !== 'loading' && !(arg instanceof Error)
}

export function isError<T>(arg: 'loading' | T | Error): arg is Error {
  return arg instanceof Error
}

Type narrowing in filter with type predicates

https://www.alexhughes.dev/blog/typed-filter → How to remove undefined values from an array

https://www.skovy.dev/blog/typescript-filter-array-with-type-guard

https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/2/narrowing.html#using-type-predicates → Shows usages with find too, not just filter

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58882530/typescript-filter-array-of-conditional-types-and-have-proper-return-type

Say that we have a type User with optional email:

type User = {
  name: string
  email?: string
}

To filter an array of users to get only the ones that have email we can do:

type UserWithEmail = User & { email: string }

function hasEmail(user: User): user is UserWithEmail {
  return !!user.email
}

const emails: string[] = users
  .filter(hasEmail)
  .map((user: UserWithEmail) => user.email)

We can also do it inline without writing hasEmail:

const emails: string[] = users
  .filter((user: User): user is UserWithEmail => !!user.email)
  .map((user: UserWithEmail) => user.email)

Another example using typeof:

const emails: string[] = users
  .map((user) => user.email)
  .filter(
    (email: string | undefined): email is string => typeof email === 'string'
  )

We can also get rid of null/undefined values from an array:

const maybeUsers: Array<User | null> = [{ name: 'John', email: 'a@b.c' }, null]

const users: User[] = maybeUsers.filter((user): user is User => !!user)

Assertion functions

https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/release-notes/typescript-3-7.html#assertion-functions

https://www.lucaspaganini.com/academy/assertion-functions-typescript-narrowing-5

export function assertUser(user: User | undefined): asserts user is User {
  if (!user) {
    throw new Error('User is undefined')
  }
}

function doSomething(user: User | undefined) {
  user.name // TS2532: Object is possibly 'undefined'.
  const u: User = user // TS2322: Type 'User | undefined' is not assignable to type 'User'.
  assertUser(user)
  // user is now just User, not User | undefined
  user.name // No error
  const u: User = user // No error
}

Result<T, E> type

https://gist.github.com/s-panferov/5269524dcf23dad9a1ef

interface Loading {
  kind: 'loading'
}

interface Success<T> {
  kind: 'success'
  data: T
}

interface Error<T> {
  kind: 'error'
  error: T
}

type Result<S, E> = Loading | Success<S> | Error<E>

type GetProductResult = Result<Product, 'network-error' | 'product-not-found'>

const assertions

https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/release-notes/typescript-3-4.html#const-assertions

satisfies

Announcement: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/typescript/announcing-typescript-4-9-rc/#the-satisfies-operator

Issue proposing this: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/47920

Pull request: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/pull/46827

Improvement example in Next.js: https://twitter.com/leeerob/status/1563540593003106306

How TypeScript 4.9 satisfies Your Prisma Workflows: https://www.prisma.io/blog/satisfies-operator-ur8ys8ccq7zb

Utility Types

https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/utility-types.html

Implementation: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/blob/df6b9e57542b3c5c68cee0e340d1c82207e41dbc/lib/lib.es5.d.ts#L1550-L1659

A library with extra types: https://github.com/ts-essentials/ts-essentials

Make all fields optional: Partial<User>. Example: Partial<{ email: string; password: string }> is {email?: string, password?: string}.

Make all fields required: Required<User>. Is the opposite of Partial.

Make some fields optional:

/**
 * Like the built-in [Partial](https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/utility-types.html#partialtype) utility,
 * but it allows you to make just some of the fields optional, not all.
 * From https://stackoverflow.com/a/61108377/4034572.
 */
export type Optional<T, K extends keyof T> = Pick<Partial<T>, K> & Omit<T, K>

Make some fields required:

/**
 * Like the built-in [Required](https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/utility-types.html#requiredtype) utility,
 * but it allows you to make just some of the fields required, not all.
 * From https://stackoverflow.com/a/72075415/4034572.
 */
export type RequiredField<T, K extends keyof T> = T & Required<Pick<T, K>>

See alternative implementation in https://stackoverflow.com/questions/69327990/how-can-i-make-one-property-non-optional-in-a-typescript-type

Return type of an async function: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48011353/how-to-unwrap-type-of-a-promise

Get function argument type: Parameters. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51851677/how-to-get-argument-types-from-function-in-typescript. Useful to avoid exporting a type (eg if we only need it in tests).

typescript-eslint ban-types

https://typescript-eslint.io/rules/ban-types/

https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/21732#issuecomment-886221640

I prefer {} over Record<string, never> for an empty object because it triggers an error sooner.

const a: {} = {}
a.x // Error TS2339: Property 'x' does not exist on type '{}'.

const b: Record<string, never> = {}
b.x // It's just 'never' but no error is shown yet :/
b.x.y // Error TS2339: Property 'bye' does not exist on type 'never'.

To use {} suppress the rule with // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/ban-types.