BENEFITS OF USING TYPESCRIPT FOR BUSINESS

In this article, for better understanding of what TypeScript is all about and benefits of using Typescript for business, I shall discuss the following topics;

– What is TypeScript?

– Difference Between TypeSript And JavaScript

– Why TypeScript Is Better Than JavaScript

– Business Benefits of Using TypeScript

If you are into frontend development, you must have heard of CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, the core languages used to design and script the page.

However, if you want to take your frontend game to the next level, you will come across advanced technologies like Angular or Typescript.

You might also be wondering why you need TypeScript when JavaScript is doing the job for you.

Read on to know some of the benefits of using TypeScript for your business.

– What is TypeScript?

TypeScript is an open-source programming language which was released in 2012 and has
become one of the most popular languages used in the industry since then.

The scripting language was developed by Microsoft and its main application is that it compiles to JavaScript.

When JavaScript was released, the developers associated the language with Angular despite many differences between the two languages.

When you are using Angular in your project, avoiding TypeScript is very difficult.

However, today TypeScript is taking the place of JavaScript rapidly and the trend is only
expected to increase in the coming years.

– Difference between TypeScript and JavaScript

One of the key differences between TypeScript and JavaScript is that these are two different programming languages.
Having said that, TypeScript is pretty similar to JavaScript.

You can say that JavaScript is a subset of TypeScript programming language.

It means all of the code you write in JavaScript is valid TypeScript code as well.

However, TypeScript increases the functionality of JavaScript by providing additional features like optional static typing and type interference.

So, you can write frontend code, cross-platform mobile apps in React Native, and backend code in Node.js with TypeScript without any problem. You can also move your existing JavaScript Codebase to TypeScript.

Why is TypeScript better than JavaScript?

The main advantage TypeScript brings is the type system. Type explains the intended use of any data and comes really handy when classifying data into categories like numeric, Boolean, or String.

Similar to Python, TypeScript variables can contain any type of data in them. However, the difference comes where TypeScript strictly defines what a given variable can contain. For instance, if a TypeScript developer writes a function for addition of two numbers, the developer utilizes types to define that the function will input two numbers only.

So, if you try to add text to the aforementioned function, you will see an error. Such an entry is possible in JavaScript for the same function.

– Business Benefits of Using TypeScript

As TypeScript offers you many new features and types, there are several benefits of using the language for your existing and new projects.

We have discussed some of the main advantages of using TypeScript below:
– Precise defining with typing system
– The most important feature TypeScript brings is its typing system.
We have already explained how the typing system in TypeScript works when compared with plain JavaScript code.

Let’s see what benefits this typing system brings to the development team.

The biggest advantage of using TypeScript is that you get to see compile-time errors.

As explained in the aforementioned example, JavaScript takes wrong values without displaying an error during compiling and the problem is identified at the user end.

So, JavaScript developers are not able to identify the mistakes in real time. This, however, is not the case with TypeScript which shows the errors before the code gets
pushed to the repository. Moreover, CI/CD systems like Jenkins make sure the code is free from any type errors before it is pushed to the production stage. Code management becomes hassle-free with Types. As discussed earlier, Types make it really easy to detect errors in the early stage of development.

Moreover, latest development environments decrease the chances of these errors by providing you with accurate code suggestions.

Since the editor itself suggests the correct code, TypeScript developers are not relying on feedback from the user’s end to detect bugs in the code.

Another benefit of using TypeScript is that types help document the code along with improving the code quality.

Documentation helps the developers to understand the code of their fellow developers.

Types make the code written with TypeScript a “self-documenting code” as developers don’t need to put extra effort into understanding the code.

Annotating types also make the developers job easy as they can easily understand how to use a certain function without understanding the logic behind it.

Finally, external libraries work perfectly fine with TypeScript and you don’t have to go through extensive documentation for finding a single function.

In TypeScript, such kind of help is provided by the development environment thereby saving valuable time.

TypeScript boosts your team’s performance. Since coding in TypeScript is more confined than other scripting languages, it increases the team performance.

When working with TypeScript, individual team members rarely need help from other developers on the team. Although taking help from fellow developers is normal, getting confused about every other thing becomes a problem and decreases the efficiency of the entire team.

This, however, is not the case with TypeScript where developers easily understand the data, thanks to the typing system of the programming language.

Type annotations and clearly defined data structures make the code easier to understand for everyone.

So, you can easily introduce new developers to the team without creating any confusion in writing code among them.

This is not the case with JavaScript where a JavaScript developer has to run the pure JavaScript code to check if there’s any problem with your code.

Therefore, types in TypeScript improve the overall efficiency of the software development team which in turn results in business growth.

TypeScript is widely trusted by the software industry

The Developer Survey carried out by Stack Overflow ranks TypeScript as the second most
popular programming language and this popularity is likely to increase in the years to come.

Some of the major players in the industry trust TypeScript for their software products. Visual Studio Code, Slack, and Asana are some of the popular software products that use TypeScript.

Moreover, many JS libraries like yWorks, GoJS, and ZoomCharts utilize TypeScript. Like JavaScript Libraries, JavaScript frameworks including Angular, Ionic, and Aurelia are written in TypeScript. Software companies like JetBrains, Ericsson, Microsoft, and eBay are considering using TypeScript in even more of their upcoming products.

With such big players in the industry putting their weight behind TypeScript, the popularity of TypeScript is only expected to increase in the coming years.