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Comment by austinthetaco | Hacker News Reader

I really feel the same about javascript with typescript. It feels a heck of a lot like new grads or old c#/java devs trying to keep up with the times by switching to javascript, but then resisting the code structure and loose typings.

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It's interesting though how much more robust the library ecosystem has become after Typescript attracted a new crowd that wouldn't haven otherwise gone near JavaScript with a ten foot pole..

Maybe with the new developments in Ruby ecosystem somebody will fix Net::Http so an absolute request timeout can be set to protect against slow client/server and maybe oversized payloads as well. Maybe 2030?

in what way is the library ecosystem more robust? if anything library use is down due to centralization around specific frameworks and tool chains.

That seems to be more in line with "what's the benefit of static types?" than "what benefit does JS get from static types?". JavaScript is not only a very different language than it was 15+ years ago, but also takes up a significantly higher percentage of an app's codebase. The web is a drastically different place than when JS was created.

it taking up more of an app's code doesn't mean that it suddenly has a need for typing. but even then, that assertion is incorrect, javascript has been making up a large majority of the codebase for quite some time now. Nodejs is 12 years old and jquery 15. That argument is one that could've been made like 9 years ago, but even then, multiple projects have tried adding typing and the javascript community strongly rejected it (heck typescript was pushing for it in 2014). Anecdotally, I've met considerably more and more developers coming from C# projects who are being made to do frontend work or find work in the javascript world, who seem to be very intent on pushing for typescript in their orgs.

> but even then, that assertion is incorrect, javascript has been making up a large majority of the codebase for quite some time now. Nodejs is 12 years old and jquery 15. That argument is one that could've been made like 9 years ago,

Typescript is 9 years old. React was still a project then and Angular was brand new. SPA's were still a new-ish concept then. JS was not used as widely 10 years ago as it is now, thanks to SPA's. The web was a drastically different place back then.

I am not at all saying that TypeScript should always be used, far from that. I just think it has a valid spot in the world of web development.

This is exactly how I feel as well. Though, maybe I’ll come around once I learn TS better? I recently had to use it on a new project. TS was, quite literally, a nightmare. I was amazed how less efficient and how much longer things took. We probably spent 20% of our time writing JS and 80% trying to figure out how to get TS to stop complaining.

Using a tool that you don’t understand is always like that, and is frankly foolish. I don’t know why we as a group so adamant of sitting down and properly learning something, and only form an opinion on that after we did that.

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