During the initial planning phase of Neighbourhood we wavered between using JavaScript (which we were most familiar with) or TypeScript. The main difference between the two is that JavaScript is a dynamically typed language, which means that variables are not assigned a specific data type when they are declared. Instead, the type of a variable is determined at runtime based on the type of value it is assigned. In a statically typed language, like TypeScript, each variable should be assigned a specific data type when it is declared, and functions should specify the type of value they return. In order to make a decision, we had to carefully consider the tradeoffs to determine if taking the time to learn TypeScript better would pay off during the project’s development.

Advantages of TypeScript

• catches errors at compile-time, adding to the overall quality of the codebase and improving maintainability;
• defining types aids code readability;
• requires a slower, more deliberate approach to coding;

Disadvantages of TypeScript

• the typing system can be difficult to properly implement and results in more lines of code;
• slower development due to having to define types and interfaces;
• external packages need to have a corresponding type package in order to work correctly.

Putting the pros and cons on the scales, JavaScript is simpler and faster if you want to quickly prototype a feature, but, overall, we decided that the extra safety features provided by TypeScript were worth the time investment required to learn it and the slightly slower development times.