TypeScript vs JavaScript: What’s the difference between them?
Clocking in at over 20 years old, JavaScript is one of the elder statesmen of the programming world. It’s also, according to the developer community HackerRank, 2023’s top five most popular programming language. This longevity, driven by continued demand for web apps, has put the spotlight on JavaScript’s inherent limitations.
Table Of Contents
- Dynamic and Static Language Types
- What Is TypeScript?
- What Problems Does TypeScript Solve for JavaScript?
- Do Large Distributed Teams Use TypeScript?
- The Difference Between TypeScript and JavaScript for Complex Development/Deployment
- The Problems with TypeScript
- Is TypeScript the Right Fit for You?
- Companies that Use TypeScript
- Final Thoughts: TypeScript or JavaScript?
Dynamic and Static Language Types
JavaScript has been adding more features to remedy its growing pains. They recently added new ways to import modules, new structures (like classes), and more utility methods. But none of these can address one fundamental problem: JavaScript is a dynamically typed language.
There are two language types: dynamic and static.
A language is said to be statically typed when you have to declare a variable as well as the type of elements it will contain. For example: if a variable stores a number, its type must be an integer, if a variable stores a word, its type must be a string. JavaScript, because it is dynamic, doesn’t let you do this.
But there is a solution. And it’s brought to us by Microsoft, who noticed the growing pains in the JavaScript ecosystem and decided to act.
