David from Kodaps
1y ago
A neuro-spicy Parisian Brit who writes about software engineering, tech communication, entrepreneurial journeys & data. I help understand code, why it is fun, & how devs think.
In 2010 I started using JavaScript professionally for the first time, and it was a mess.
Prior to that I had been coding in C++, which is very structured. But the JavaScript codebase I was trying to understand was a hodge-podge of intertwined callbacks, and I hated it from the start.
Learning and using TypeScript changed all that for me.
Because it adds structure and constraints.
Like anyone, I like my freedom. I like doing what I want. But JavaScript has too much freedom. That freedom made the codebase unreadable.
It's probably possible to document JavaScript code correctly to the point where TypeScript is not necessary - i.e. if you follow another constraint.
TypeScript provides a common structure for that constraint. It makes documentation a prerequisite for the code to function.
That constraint, that stricture, is what make JavaScript fun for me.
It's why I am where I am now.