While both of these programming dialects are generally utilized for web application development, yet recently the TypeScript has increased quick footing since the time RxJS and Angular began receiving it.
In the event that you have ever chipped away at a web development venture, you probably observed what JavaScript resembles. It has been there for quite a while now as the most mainstream scripting language for some, web ventures.
Every web and mobile app development company will have the team of developers having the knowledge of both the trending programming languages. Let’s get to know them one by one:
Table of Contents
JavaScript
JavaScript is one of the most popular core technologies of the web. From the beginning, it has been an integral part of web applications making web pages interactive and dynamic. It is a high-level language, with JIT (Just-in-Time) compiler and dynamic typing.
For long, JS was a client-side implementation, but some newer JS engines also have server-side implementations. The syntax of JS is very similar to Java, and so are the standard libraries. As a starting point, JS is the best scripting language to learn. JavaScript was developed by Netscape in collaboration with Sun Microsystems.
– Benefits of JavaScript
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Flexibility
JavaScript is widely flexible, which is why some developers still prefer JavaScript over TypeScript.
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Native browser support
JavaScript code is compiled directly into machine language, while TypeScript produces JavaScript after compilation, adding an extra step.
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No annotations required
TypeScript makes the project less efficient because it requires developers to constantly annotate their code. JavaScript, however, doesn’t.
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Easy learning curve
JavaScript is definitely easier to learn which is why many JavaScript developers still prefer to use JavaScript that they already know, rather than learn TypeScript.
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Huge community
The JavaScript community is huge, growing, and active. That means, it’s easier to find developers who are willing to help in developing projects and share their expertise.
TypeScript
TypeScript is no different from JavaScript in its purpose but is used for developing large applications. TypeScript trans compiles (source to source compilation) to JavaScript. It follows an object-oriented programming language structure and supports its features like classes, interfaces, namespaces, and inheritance. Static typing is possible in TypeScript through type annotations (numbers, string and boolean).
– Benefits of TypeScript
Like mentioned in the beginning, TypeScript is gaining traction rapidly. And the main reason behind that is its benefits from additional features. Following are the best benefits of TypeScript.
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Static typing
In TypeScript, the static typing feature helps to detect bugs while writing the scripts. This helps developers in writing more robust code and maintain it, which results into a lot better and cleaner code compared to JavaScript.
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Type annotations
One of the main objective of TypeScript is to statically identify constructs which are possibly errors. This basically allows developers to make safe assumptions about state while in execution.
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Better for collaboration
Large-scale applications usually have more developers working on its development. This creates an opportunity to create mess and increase coding errors. However, the type safety feature in TypeScript helps to find code errors and bugs while writing the code and not during compilation, which results into more efficient debugging process and better collaboration opportunity.
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API documentation
In JavaScript, you can access library’s own documentation with tools like Dash. But, it just cannot match the experience offered by TypeScript. Take Fetch API for example. The below given image shows how developers can explore the API using the VSCode Peek feature.
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Perfect for large-scale application development
Most large-scale projects require small and incremental changes to its code base. And these changes must be done carefully otherwise it creates significant & unintended consequences. TypeScript refactoring tools helps in avoiding such situations by providing an option to undo the changes, making the development process a lot easier and faster.
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Enhanced productivity
TypeScript has in-built features like auto-compilation, ECMAScript 6 code support, and dynamic typing that helps compiler in creating highly-optimized code and boosting developers’ productivity.
Is TypeScript better than JavaScript?
Before further comparison of TypeScript and JavaScript, another important question needs to be addressed! Since TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript, should we always use Typescript? Does being a superset makes TypeScript suitable for all types of projects? No.
TypeScript is no way to replace or make JavaScript obsolete. JavaScript is still the most favorite client-side scripting language. For smaller projects, using TypeScript could be an overhead because it takes time to trans compile the code into JavaScript, which is an extra step.
In case you are an on-demand app development company, you will find both the choices better for your project as their framework are very flexible JavaScript is directly run on the browser, so for small code chunks, it’s easier to refresh and debug the code. In the case of TypeScript, we need a proper IDE and set up to run the code.
When to migrate your project to TypeScript?
When the code becomes huge, complex to handle, and more prone to errors, it is better if some errors are caught during compile time itself. That is where TypeScript helps. The beauty is that the entire codebase written in Java can be reused as such.
Conclusion
As we have already determined, JavaScript is most suited when your team is new and is working on small web projects. If you have a team with good expertise and knowledge and want them to handle a complex project, going for TypeScript is a perfect choice. That said, if you are looking for a learning curve and job opportunities, definitely TypeScript has an edge over JavaScript.
