TypeScript

[john76543]

I found this blog entry that is really interesting (I didn't write it)

http://blorkfish.wordpress.com/2013/...th-typescript/

Nice idea to cast the literal objects of the items array, eg:

items: [ <Ext_Button>{ ... }, <Ext_Combo>{ ... } ]

I've tried this type of thing in the playground and although you don't get intellisense, you do get errors for mistyped properties.

[brian428]

We have been discussing this internally for some time, so we are definitely not just dismissing this potentially significant development in the JS world. The fact that the definition files can be separated from the core of the framework is also a big plus, obviously.

No decisions yet, but stay tuned.

Thanks. I think something like this could be very useful. It should also be trivially easy for you to do. One forum user already created a workable definition file in his spare time.

The people saying this is useless or hitching their wagons to EC6 just have no idea what they're talking about. At all. EC6 has been in the works for FIVE YEARS, with virtually no progress. Even once it is finally released, it will take many more years before you can rely on the majority of users having a browser that will run it.

Transcompilers like CoffeeScript, Google Closure, and TypeScript will be the only viable option for a very long time. Anyone who says "just write correct JavaScript" has either never worked on a team building enterprise-level JavaScript applications, has never worked with a language that supports proper tooling, or is just a masochist.

[Ekambos]

The best Javacript code it the one you dont write. Sencha being build around JS Tooling it s normal that they are really defensive when it comes to JS and also why GXT is a second level citizen.
But anyone writing some big scale application know how JS sucks.
Just dont expect someone at Sencha to agree with that

[joeri]

But anyone writing some big scale application know how JS sucks.
Just dont expect someone at Sencha to agree with that

Ahem, our product has 90.000 lines of ExtJS and Sencha Touch code (excluding whitespace and comments), and we don't think JS sucks. In fact, I personally consider it my favorite language.

[Ekambos]

Erik Meijer: Are you saying you cannot write large programs in JavaScript?
Anders Hejlsberg: No, you can write large programs in JavaScript. You just can’t maintain them.

And i think this people know a bit more better about software at large scale then you. With no offense.
Sure you can get this done with JS. The question is how long it takes to get there.

[joeri]

Well, now that you point out these words from Anders Hejlsberg, I've suddenly realized that for many years I was completely deluding myself that we were being productive in JavaScript. Many thanks for pointing out my obvious error in knowing my own body of work.

Also, I have suddenly realized my great love for Delphi (another Hejlsberg tribute to productivity), and will set out henceforth to port all my JavaScript code back to the Delphi code it was originally ported from.

-

Not that I want people to think I am opposed to TypeScript. I think having strict typing in JavaScript is a good idea, I just don't think it is mandatory for productivity.

[brian428]

Not that I want people to think I am opposed to TypeScript. I think having strict typing in JavaScript is a good idea, I just don't think it is mandatory for productivity.

It's obviously not mandatory, since we're all living without it right now. But it would absolutely be a huge boon to productivity, tooling, and code quality.

[jmcfet]

I am involved in a large JS app project right now as we have TV remote player in JS/HTML5 and SVG. The result is wonderful but we also use things like Knockoutjs (data-binding) ,Underscore and RequireJS. All these help in architecting the solution as I do agree that it fair to easy to write spaghetti JS. However using these and the Module pattern I like the language but really think that Typescript or something like it is the future. remember it generates native JS code

[Ekambos]

Well, now that you point out these words from Anders Hejlsberg, I've suddenly realized that for many years I was completely deluding myself that we were being productive in JavaScript. Many thanks for pointing out my obvious error in knowing my own body of work.

Also, I have suddenly realized my great love for Delphi (another Hejlsberg tribute to productivity), and will set out henceforth to port all my JavaScript code back to the Delphi code it was originally ported from.

No Offense but i think Hejlsberg knows a bit more then you about productivity.

I m glad that you and your team are productive with JavaScript. Like i said i designed and implemented large scale JS apps. So i know what i m talking about.You can get things done. It s just not fun doing it.Actually it s painfull. Specially with a team spread accross the world.
. Here are simply facts that you cant deny :

1) IDE support. Now there some good tools coming out lately. Sencha even have an Eclipse plugin. But real IDE support goes beyond AutoCompletion and Syntaxhightling.

2) Compile time errors. I rather cath errors at compile time then at runtime. For someone who write a lot of typos like me a big plus.

3) Refactoring. Have you ever tried to refactor a large JavaScript applications ?
4) Recruiting. Finding good Java,C# devs is easier then JS devs.
5) The list goes on and on


Below a video to study.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR1E5zO-eBo

[Tim Toady]

No Offense but i think Hejlsberg knows a bit more then you about productivity.

I m glad that you and your team are productive with JavaScript. Like i said i designed and implemented large scale JS apps. So i know what i m talking about.You can get things done. It s just not fun doing it.Actually it s painfull. Specially with a team spread accross the world.
. Here are simply facts that you cant deny :

1) IDE support. Now there some good tools coming out lately. Sencha even have an Eclipse plugin. But real IDE support goes beyond AutoCompletion and Syntaxhightling.

2) Compile time errors. I rather cath errors at compile time then at runtime. For someone who write a lot of typos like me a big plus.

3) Refactoring. Have you ever tried to refactor a large JavaScript applications ?
4) Recruiting. Finding good Java,C# devs is easier then JS devs.
5) The list goes on and on


Below a video to study.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR1E5zO-eBo

What a silly argument. Hejlsberg certainly has credentials to his name, but that in no way means his words are law or even correct. He also is a core developer of typescript giving him a huge bias.

Would I want to create a large-scale application in pure JS with no library or framework? Of course not. But these tools are available to developers greatly increasing productivity. I routinely create complex interfaces in very short periods of time using Ext JS. I also have no issue maintaining existing applications that are written following proper coding conventions. I find applications written using Ext's MVC framework very easy to maintain.

If you find it painful, maybe you are doing it wrong.

To address your other issues:

1. Highly subjective. The eclipse plugin does appear to be very intelligent, but I have not used it personally so I can't argue it. Regardless, I prefer to do all my coding in VIM. I would rather have all the power of the console available to me than working in an IDE. I am more productive now than I have ever been when using a bloated IDE.

2. Knowing an error as early as possible is a certainly a good thing. One can easliy set up a dev environment to do something like jshint automatically. Is this going to find everything a compiler might find for a compiled language? No, but it will get you pretty far. I don't think that a compiled language would save me much time here. In fact, it would probably cost me more time if I was working with a compiled language since I would have to compile every time I wrote a minor change.

3. Yes.

4. Irrelevant

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but simply because you had a bad experience with a language or a known individual might agree with you, in no way affects whether I or anyone else find JS productive or maintainable.