TypeScript and Dojo 2
What is TypeScript?
According to TypeScript’s website, three of TypeScript’s major strengths are:
- It starts and ends with JavaScript - TypeScript has not tried to re-implement the JavaScript language. Rather, it has been been built on top of existing standards so that all valid JavaScript is also valid TypeScript. Additionally, when a TypeScript project is compiled, it is converted into clean, easy to comprehend JavaScript that will run in almost any JavaScript environment.
- It has strong tools for large apps - TypeScript, as the name implies, adds an optional type system on top of the JavaScript language. Types make it easier for engineers to reason about how their code will behave. It also allows tools to be created that provide many advantages that other strongly typed language enjoy such as refactoring support, autocompletion functionality, and static code analysis.
- It supports state of the art JavaScript - TypeScript code is converted to JavaScript by a transpiler before it is run. In addition to simply converting the code the transpiler is also able to allow advanced JavaScript features to be used, such as asynchronous functions and decorators.
The Dojo 2 project has taken advantage of each of these strengths to achieve its goals.
Dojo 2 goals
Every framework makes design decisions based on the project’s goals. The best framework for a given project is often the one whose design goals most closely match the needs of the project.
Dojo 2 was designed to address the needs of large-scale, enterprise applications. To meet this single overarching target, several smaller goals need to be achieved.
- Dojo 2 needs to ensure that applications can be developed efficiently, scaled smoothly, and maintained easily.
- It must simplify the creation of data-centric applications that are common in many enterprises.
- It must provide out-of-the-box support for features that are important to enterprises such as accessibility (a11y), internationalization (i18n), and security.
How TypeScript helps
TypeScript offers many features that have enabled Dojo 2 to realize its objectives. Three of the primary features are: the type system, interfaces, and the transpiler.
The type system
On its own, JavaScript is a dynamic, loosely-typed language. While these features make JavaScript very easy to start working with, they can quickly become points of concern. Engineers often spend a great deal of time reviewing existing code to be sure that they are using it properly. This slows down the development process as spending time comprehending existing code reduces time available for creating new features.
TypeScript includes an optional type system that addresses these issues. The type system allows engineers to describe the data and behaviors that make up an application. This allows an individual engineer to interact with code written by someone else more efficiently. As a result, they can spend more time working on their own features, rather than trying to understand someone else’s code.
The type system also allows tools to increase a engineer’s productivity by letting them know what data types are expected within the application. Features like code completion, refactoring support, and static analysis help to ensure that the engineer is using the existing aspects of the application correctly. This allows the engineer to spend more time authoring code and less time reading. Additionally, since the type system provides design-time warnings about incompatible types, type assertion tests can be eliminated from the application’s test suite.
One of the concerns that many engineers have about adding types to a language is the additional code that must be authored to satisfy the transpiler. This can reduce engineer efficiency since time spent authoring typing information cannot be devoted to authoring new features. To address this, TypeScript uses type inference to limit the amount of extra code needed to define the data types.
A final advantage that the type system brings is the ability to identify aspects of an application that are not required. By identifying code that is unreachable, variables that are unused, and imported modules that are not accessed, it is easier to locate and remove stale code from a TypeScript application. This makes applications easier to maintain by reducing technical debt.
Interfaces
Many enterprise-level applications are too large to be authored by a single engineer or even a single team. To manage these projects, enterprises seek to divide large projects among multiple teams. Doing this, however, creates challenges as each team must often be able to share APIs and data with other teams. TypeScript’s allows interfaces that can simplify these coordination efforts. A TypeScript interface can be used to describe the methods that a class must support or the shape of a data structure. By setting up interfaces between development teams, each team can be confident that their code will be compatible the code from other teams.
In addition to supporting team-coordination, the ability to describe a data structure’s expected shape clarifies the expected fields within object literals. This is especially important when creating applications that interact with a server to load, manipulate, and save large amounts of data. Since communication between Dojo 2 applications and servers is typically done using the JSON protocol, the ability to define interfaces for the messages greatly simplifies the processing of that data.
The transpiler
A *compiler* converts source code into instructions that can be read by the computer, either natively or via a runtime interpreter. A *transpiler* converts code from one language to another. Since TypeScript code is run as JavaScript, it is transpiled, not compiled.
Due to the complicated suite of applications within many enterprises, technology upgrades are often adopted slowly. This is necessary due to the large amount of testing that is required to ensure that the new technology does not break existing applications. This has historically hindered enterprise engineers from leveraging the latest language features. TypeScript takes advantage of the fact that it must be transpiled into JavaScript to bridge this technology gap. TypeScript is continually updated to include the latest features that are coming to the JavaScript language. The transpiler emits JavaScript that converts code containing these features into JavaScript that is compliant with older standards, often back to ECMAScript 3. This brings the best of both worlds to the enterprise - they are able to maintain a carefully planned upgrade path for their web browsers and other technology while allowing their engineers to take advantage of the latest features of the language.
Summary
TypeScript’s type system has allowed powerful development aids to be created such as refactoring tools and autocompletion support. This enables enterprise engineers to focus on authoring clean, efficient code without having to memorize or look up the details for existing APIs.
Supporting multi-team projects has always been challenging in JavaScript due to its dynamic, loosely-typed nature. By utilizing TypeScript interfaces, Dojo 2 projects can be divided in discrete domains that are bounded by mutually understood interfaces. Within each domain, a team can author the code that they need without being concerned that they could break another team’s source code.
Finally, balancing the need to allow engineers to use the latest language features with the conflicting need to ensure that technology upgrades don’t break existing applications has always been a challenge in enterprise software development. By using its transpiler to enable cutting edge language features to be used and then compiling them in a way that complies with older JavaScript standards, TypeScript allows Dojo 2 applications to satisfy both demands.
Dojo 2 has been designed to continue the legacy of Dojo 1 - support the development of robust, maintainable, data-rich enterprise applications. By leveraging TypeScript’s type system, interfaces, and the transpiler’s ability to use cutting edge features in backward compatible ways, it forms the solid foundation that Dojo 2 is using to enable the next generation of applications to be built with world-class levels of performance, maintainability, and reliability.