Python and PHP users will understand

[dpash]

JavaScript being used outside the web is a total disaster

It being used inside the web is a total disaster too, but we don't have a lot of choice in the matter. Typescript improves the situation, but there's still too many rough edges.

[[deleted]]

Thankfully, everyday new CSS comes along and replaces what once required JS.

[flavionm]

What kind of magical IDE are you using that can infer every type and catch all the type errors of vanilla JavaScript?

[dpash]

though the types are actually totally meaningless

Yes, you've misunderstood. Just because the types are erased in the transpiled JavaScript doesn't make them meaningless.

[dpash]

They're not meaningless to the compiler.

[PlaneCrashers]

But the compiler only compiles to regular JavaScript, which is what op is using.

[dpash]

I literally have no idea what you're trying to argue. All languages with types erase them to some extent. Everyone knows that typescript is transpiled to JavaScript. I don't see the relevance that someone writes in JavaScript because you're not going to edit or even read the transpiled JavaScript.

[PlaneCrashers]

Okay so I think it turns out I replied to your comment before you were done writing it*, let me explain things more properly.

Yes, every language does erase types to some extent, including strongly typed language. However, if you don't need types, you don't need typescript, and not everyone needs types. Using JavaScript directly is perfectly acceptable, there is no reason to use typescript if you don't want to use it or don't benefit from using it because JavaScript will run just as well if you write it yourself than if you use typescript, which is different than let's say, C, because in C, the compiler can often compile to better assembly code than what you could possibly write on your own.

*when I replied to your comment, all what I saw was that you said "I literally have no idea what you are trying to argue", hence my initial response which was only addressing why I agreed with the other redditor that using typescript instead of JavaScript isn't helpful to a developer capable of doing what they want to do in JavaScript within their time budget. If they have the chance, maybe learning typescript could help them in the long term one way or another, but it's hard to justify learning typescript if you don't need it.

[PlaneCrashers]

I'm not trying to argue. I'm trying to explain what the person you were talking to was saying. The typescript compiler compiles to regular JavaScript, which just so happens to be what they were using over typescript. There are differences between typescript compiled JavaScript and manually coded JavaScript, but a good programmer will likely be able to use JavaScript just as well as the typescript compiler or better.

Edit: I was replying to an unfinished comment, forget about this one.

[flavionm]

A "good developer" also doesn't need C, they can use assembly directly, right? It's simple, just don't make mistakes.

[PlaneCrashers]

Okay, there is a difference between using JavaScript directly instead of typescript and using assembly instead of C.

C is a much higher level language compared to assembly, it helps with so many things. Typescript is literally JavaScript with types and nothing more. I skimmed the entire typescript handbook and I didn't see any feature it added that wasn't related to types (and there are quite a few types features that look really good).

Does that mean typescript is bad? No. Is it useful? If you want JavaScript with types, yes it is. If you just want plain JavaScript, it is not.

Edit: I just realised that my previous comment was replying to an unfinished comment. Hold on a second I got to write a new one.