Really ugly way to avoid something already solved by named parameters and/or namespacing
https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/symbols.html#un...
It makes the claims that (1) a string of a specific form (a hash) could be misused (eg. someone might call toUpper on it) or (2) passed in incorrect order to a function that takes multiple strings.
Named parameters / outward-facing labels (Swift) completely solves (2). For (1), the solution is just ugly. Just use the type system in a normal manner and make a safe class “Hash” that doesn’t allow misuse. And/or use namespacing. And/or use extensions on String. And/or add a compiler extension that looks like outward-facing labels but for return types. So many cleaner options than this nasty brand (yes, that’s the point of the article, but the solution is still hideous. Make it elegant).
type Hash = Branded<string, "Hash">;Granted, it's hard to know exactly what solutions the person is pitching (the person they're responding to). This person presumably thinks renaming arguments like foo(string:) to foo(hash:) solves branded types. And then they vaguely gesture at other solutions like namespacing and 'safe classes'.