If I’m writing a Go app with a JS frontend component but then I decide to use Typescript, suddenly I have NPM, Node, and realistically probably some JS build system like Grunt as dependencies of my project.
Basically, it just adds more moving parts to the project when I could get away with a) a simpler build process and b) less separation between me and the browser.
To be fair, I’ve never used TypeScript, but this is what’s kept me from using TypeScript.
For your Go code to be useful, you’ve got to set up the Go compiler right?
As much as I wouldn’t recommend it, you can even install the typescript compiler via an OS package manager (at least in most Debian distributions)
At that point (and once you’ve added it to your makefile, or however else you’re triggering your go build), surely then there’s zero additional moving parts needed to compile your front end vs your backend?
Not least of all, I’d argue having a compiler tell me I messed up immediately is a bonus too vs poking around for some time until I get an error in the JS console
You are making a lot of false assumptions about typescript and bringing in a lot of outside problems that don’t have anything to do with the language. Try working with typescript. It is a strict super set of javascript. So if you like vanilla JS, you can just keep writing it, then slowly introduce the syntactic sugar that typescript provides. I did the javascript and coffee script thing for a long while, and typescript is just the better way for most use cases at this point.
problems that don’t have anything to do with the language.
My concerns about it don’t have anything to do with the language. More the tooling that would come with it.
If browsers natively understood TypeScript, I’d use the type-safety features. But I don’t want things like the TypeScript compiler or Node to be a dependency of my build process. Not if the only payoff is type safety.
I usually write Typescript with Vue and SSR so my server and client are using the same tooling. If I was writing a basic frontend with minimal JavaScript I would just (and have) use jsdoc for typing.
But let’s be fair, what you mentioned as dependencies are development dependencies and don’t impact the end user (outside of poorly optimized build systems causing issues). Build systems can have some great benefits. Such as reducing file size by utilizing methods such as tree shaking to prune out the unused classes in a CSS library.
It just comes down to choosing the tools to suit the job. Sure, you can use a table saw to cut a stick but it’s probably easier just to use a handsaw. Whereas if you’re cutting a large plywood board you could make do with a handsaw but it’ll take longer and the result might not be pretty.
They do if I the developer am spending time maintaining my dependencies rather than implementing feature X that the end user wants.
Build systems can have some great benefits.
As does not having multiple distinct yet interacting build systems in one project.
unused classes in a CSS library.
I have yet to have a use for any CSS libraries. Maybe that has more to do with the problem domain in which I write than anything. Maybe some day I’ll run into a situation where I feel I’d be better served using a CSS library, but it hasn’t happened yet.
If I’m writing a Go app with a JS frontend component but then I decide to use Typescript, suddenly I have NPM, Node, and realistically probably some JS build system like Grunt as dependencies of my project.
Basically, it just adds more moving parts to the project when I could get away with a) a simpler build process and b) less separation between me and the browser.
To be fair, I’ve never used TypeScript, but this is what’s kept me from using TypeScript.
For your Go code to be useful, you’ve got to set up the Go compiler right?
As much as I wouldn’t recommend it, you can even install the typescript compiler via an OS package manager (at least in most Debian distributions)
At that point (and once you’ve added it to your makefile, or however else you’re triggering your go build), surely then there’s zero additional moving parts needed to compile your front end vs your backend?
Not least of all, I’d argue having a compiler tell me I messed up immediately is a bonus too vs poking around for some time until I get an error in the JS console
You are making a lot of false assumptions about typescript and bringing in a lot of outside problems that don’t have anything to do with the language. Try working with typescript. It is a strict super set of javascript. So if you like vanilla JS, you can just keep writing it, then slowly introduce the syntactic sugar that typescript provides. I did the javascript and coffee script thing for a long while, and typescript is just the better way for most use cases at this point.
My concerns about it don’t have anything to do with the language. More the tooling that would come with it.
If browsers natively understood TypeScript, I’d use the type-safety features. But I don’t want things like the TypeScript compiler or Node to be a dependency of my build process. Not if the only payoff is type safety.
To be fair, I’ve never written frontend. No doubt the problems there are a bit different.
I usually write Typescript with Vue and SSR so my server and client are using the same tooling. If I was writing a basic frontend with minimal JavaScript I would just (and have) use jsdoc for typing.
But let’s be fair, what you mentioned as dependencies are development dependencies and don’t impact the end user (outside of poorly optimized build systems causing issues). Build systems can have some great benefits. Such as reducing file size by utilizing methods such as tree shaking to prune out the unused classes in a CSS library.
It just comes down to choosing the tools to suit the job. Sure, you can use a table saw to cut a stick but it’s probably easier just to use a handsaw. Whereas if you’re cutting a large plywood board you could make do with a handsaw but it’ll take longer and the result might not be pretty.
They do if I the developer am spending time maintaining my dependencies rather than implementing feature X that the end user wants.
As does not having multiple distinct yet interacting build systems in one project.
I have yet to have a use for any CSS libraries. Maybe that has more to do with the problem domain in which I write than anything. Maybe some day I’ll run into a situation where I feel I’d be better served using a CSS library, but it hasn’t happened yet.