Hey guys👋 Nowadays, websites are extensively used. In order to make them dynamic and interactive, JavaScript is the most popular choice. But recently, there's a new bad boy in town - TypeScript. With its ever-growing popularity, people consider it to be an enhanced and modern version of JavaScript. But how much truth is in this statement?
Let's find out together!
JavaScript
It is a very popular programming language that many are striving to master. It is an object-based scripting language that is lightweight, cross-platform, and mostly used to create client-side dynamic webpages. The programs written with JavaScript are known as scripts. These scripts are written in HTML pages and then executed automatically when the page loads. It does not need any special preparation or compilation to run.
TypeScript
It is a pure object-oriented programing language. Moreover, it is open-source. TypeScript is a strongly typed superset of JavaScript and can not directly run on the browser. A compiler is needed for running a TypeScript code. It is developed and maintained by Microsoft. Its source file is in ".ts" extension. Bluntly speaking, it is the ES6 version of JavaScript with some useful additional features.
As now we have a general idea of both of them, let's do a head-to-head comparison!
JavaScript vs TypeScript
Advantages of JavaScript
Following are some advantages of JavaScript:
Most browsers employ JavaScript. It is simpler to comprehend. You do not have to install a lot of programs before you can start using JavaScript as you can do it even in your browser's console!
It has a comprehensive user interface and contains a graphical UI that is easy to deploy. By using JavaScript you can create interactive projects right at the beginning of your learning phase. Cool, right?
JavaScript can be used to contain items such as sliders and drag-and-drop components to create a good and interactive interface for your website visitors.
It has superior debugging tools that aid you in learning. As mentioned before, a JavaScript interpreter is present in the web browser. This interpreter gives back prompt feedback, which increases your learning rate.
Changes in websites can be made in real-time. The developers don’t have to wait and reload the pages to see the changes so no time is wasted.
Advantages of TypeScript
TypeScript has the following advantages:
TypeScript adds type support to JavaScript as JavaScript is strongly typed and does not recognize what kind of a variable is until it is instantiated at runtime.
TypeScript creates typing easier with the help of type inference. Even if the interface is not utilized, it still helps in preventing mistakes that may end up as errors during runtime.
Errors like "cannot read property ‘x’ of undefined" are quite common in JavaScript. But these types of errors do not occur while using TypeScript as you cannot utilize a variable that is unknown to your compiler.
You can easily use characteristics of ES2015 and beyond such as the spread operator, lambda, de-structuring, modules, functions, and even classes.
You can even convert code from JavaScript into TypeScript by merely changing the extension from .js to .ts.
TypeScript code runs smoothly on any browser, device, or even operating system.
Why choose JavaScript?
You should choose JavaScript when:
You are part of a team that is already applying test-driven development.
You are part of a small team or working on a small project.
You don't want to use build tools.
You want to develop web applications much faster and streamline your software development process. This can be done using frameworks and libraries supported by JavaScript. Many libraries or frameworks don't support TypeScript yet.
Why choose TypeScript?
You should choose TypeScript when:
You are working on a huge project or you are part of a huge team.
You are working on a project that uses React but are not accustomed to its APIs.
You are expanding plain JavaScript code. This can be tough, especially when you prefer compile-time error checking! In TypeScript, you can execute run-time type confirmation and compile-time validation.
Conclusion
After looking at the differences between TypeScript and JavaScript, it can be said that both have their pros and cons. JavaScript may not be a full-fledged coding language, but it can enhance the quality of web pages. Moreover, it has a large community of developers! On the other hand, TypeScript is mainly used by developers who want to produce clean code that is compact yet readable. But, TypeScript is not as widely used as JavaScript. Still, TypeScript has quite useful features, therefore it is gaining popularity day by day. These are merely my personal opinions. Let me know what you guys think in the comments below :)