Should You Ditch TypeScript? A Deep Dive on Why Major Projects Are Removing Support 🤯
Big Projects Are Ditching TypeScript - Why?
TypeScript has seen a meteoric rise in popularity over the past decade since its initial release in 2012. By adding static types to JavaScript, it helped prevent many bugs and made refactoring code much easier. This led to its adoption by many large projects like Angular and React. However, recently there have been some notable projects that have removed TypeScript support, like Turbo, Svelte, and Drizle.
In this post, we will explore why these projects made the decision to ditch TypeScript. We'll look at the benefits TypeScript provided that made it so popular initially. We'll also understand the arguments against TypeScript from projects removing its support. Finally, we'll discuss alternatives to TypeScript and whether removing it is the right choice for your own projects.
The Appeal of TypeScript
TypeScript brought strong typing to JavaScript, which helped prevent entire classes of bugs caused by type errors. Instead of having to find these bugs at runtime, TypeScript catches them during compilation. This made refactoring code much safer.
TypeScript also improved developer productivity through features like auto-completion, jump-to-definition, and refactoring support in IDEs and editors. It helped standardize JavaScript development and widened the talent pool by abstracting away JavaScript's quirks.
By 2020, TypeScript had become one of the most popular programming languages thanks to its use in large frameworks like Angular and React. It improved code quality for many developers who appreciated its advantages over plain JavaScript.
Why Projects Are Dropping TypeScript
While TypeScript provided many benefits, it also introduced downsides for some projects:
Code Clutter
For some codebases, the type definitions required for TypeScript resulted in unnecessary code clutter. This includes defining simple types just for the sake of compilation.
Slow Compile Times
Larger codebases saw compile times increase significantly with TypeScript. Frequent rebuilds as part of the development process slowed productivity.
Expertise Requirement
Contributing to a TypeScript codebase requires understanding of its type system. This raises the bar for community participation and involvement.
Ideological Differences
Some, like Ruby on Rails creator DHH, are philosophically opposed to strongly typed languages for JavaScript. They prefer the flexibility of dynamic typing.
The above reasons are what led projects like Svelte and Drizle to remove TypeScript in favor of plaintext JavaScript.
Alternatives Like JSDoc
As an alternative to TypeScript, some projects use JSDoc comments for static analysis without compilation. Tools like eslint-plugin-jsdoc can provide real-time checks.
While JSDoc doesn't catch as many errors as TypeScript and requires careful documentation, it avoids a build step entirely. This is preferable for some projects focused on productivity and ease of contribution.
However, JSDoc brings its own challenges in maintaining documentation rigorously. While flexible, it is less standardized and turnkey than TypeScript. Overall setup and enforcement of types requires more effort.
Will TypeScript Become Obsolete?
Given the success of TypeScript so far, it's unlikely to be replaced completely in the foreseeable future for most applications. A few key points:
Native type support in JavaScript could diminish TypeScript's value someday, but such proposals are still in early stages.
For large frameworks like Angular and React, TypeScript brings too much value around code quality to be dropped.
Libraries with strong focus on developer productivity, like Svelte, have good reason to avoid TypeScript and its compile step.
But for most apps, TypeScript catches far more bugs than it creates. Its benefits still outweigh overhead for maintainable codebases.
So while projects may continue dropping TypeScript support for specific reasons, it will remain one of the best options for writing large, maintainable applications for the near future.
Conclusion
TypeScript has revolutionized how developers write JavaScript, preventing whole classes of mistakes. But it is not the perfect solution for every project, as shown by some notable removals of its support recently.
For libraries where iteration speed matters most, avoiding TypeScript makes sense. But for large codebases where stability is critical, TypeScript catches far more bugs than it creates by adding types.
Rather than view TypeScript as the one true way, recognizing its strengths as well as limitations helps make the right choice for each unique situation. Wise developers consider multiple factors and stay open to new ideas that improve their workflow. In most cases, TypeScript will continue to bring more benefits than drawbacks.
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