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JavaScript vs. TypeScript for Open Source: Seeking the Community's Thoughts 🤔

OpenSource on September 22, 2023

Hey there, fellow devs! We're at a crossroads with our open-source project, Webcrumbs, and would love your perspective. We're deliberating between...

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Magne • Sep 26 '23 • Edited

I recommend either TS with types greyed out (color-wise) in the IDE (so they don't clutter reading of the JS code), or JSDoc TS. Types are especially important for OSS libraries that others use and rely on, but beware that you might have to create some complex typings from time to time (can be time consuming, hence the DHH drama), to give your API consumers the best experience.

Oleg Proskurin • Sep 22 '23

Hey!

Typescript has become almost a standard nowadays. Especially if you are providing any library that other developers will use. Moreover, the typescript cons you mentioned are not so critical, let me comment on them:

you will have a compilation step in any case even without a typescript
the learning curve is not so difficult, rather on the contrary, in my experience, new developers are more comfortable onboarding a project with a typescript

Another disadvantage of typescript that you did not mention is that if you take typing seriously, you will have to think through twice as many things on the project and this will require additional costs, of course. Now it’s up to you to decide whether it’s worth investing in it.

Happy coding! :)

OpenSource Webcrumbs • Sep 23 '23

Thank you, my friend.

Red Ochsenbein (he/him) • Sep 22 '23 • Edited

I think one point simply asks for static typing: the plugin interface. However this would still leave the question open JSDoc or Typescript. I think deployment is simpler when using JSDoc because it does not require a build step. But Typescript is probably easier to maintain than proper JSDoc (with its rather cumbersome syntax for more complex stuff)