React JS is a swiftly evolving framework and this year it has introduced First-class support for TypeScript. The new default React Native app is template is Typescript and even the React Native documentation is Typescript First. Does this mean you should start planning about deprecating your Javascript code and libraries? The answer depends on your choice of features for the project and the application development roadmap. We will get to know why?
How Typescript Works?
TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript that adds static typing to the language. TypeScript brings in static typing, empowering developers to specify types for variables, function parameters, return values, and beyond. This helps in detecting errors during development and enhances the tooling support available in code editors.
A fundamental advantage of TypeScript lies in its compiler, responsible for transforming TypeScript code into JavaScript. This enables developers to craft code using TypeScript and seamlessly convert it into JavaScript, making it compatible with web browsers and various software applications.
Things to Consider in Your React Project
Coming back to the question of whether to go with Typescript or Javascript for your React project we will consider below the factors that can influence our choice.
React with Javascript
Familiarity – If the team is already a pro in Javascript they can lend their experience and knowledge to the project utilizing familiar tools and libraries without trying to integrate a new library.
Flexibility – Javascript doesn’t enforce strict typing rules making it faster to write code and experiment things around. The development environment in Javascript promotes a flexible development environment with quick rollbacks.
Ecosystem – The Javascript ecosystem comprises numerous libraries, frameworks, and resources specifically designed for React. The community support is huge and it is easier to find a ready-made solution.
React with Typescript
Static typing – Typescript introduces static typing. This prevents type-related errors creeping in during development. As a result, codes written are more reliable and maintainable.
Tooling and IDE support – Typescript offers excellent tooling features like autocompletion, code navigation, and refactoring in popular IDEs enhancing developer productivity and reducing man made glitches.
Team collaboration – Typescript provides better code organization and documentation through interfaces, type annotations, and generics. When it comes to large projects with multiple teams this becomes an important factor about maintaining code uniformity and team collaboration.
Reasons You Should Use TypeScript with React
Improved IDE support
Various code editors such as Visual Studio Code, Atom, and Sublime Text support TypeScript. TypeScript’s static typing enables improved code completion suggestions, error detection, and the ability to refactor code more effectively within these editors.
Type safety
Thanks to TypeScript’s type system, developers can catch type-related problems during compilation rather than at runtime. This feature simplifies the process of writing and maintaining high-quality code. For example, TypeScript can help detect errors in a React component’s props and state, aiding in smoother development.
Easier collaboration
TypeScript promotes a more structured approach to coding, fostering collaboration among developers. This leads to a reduction in the time and effort required to understand and handle complex codebases.
Better performance
TypeScript’s compiler enables more efficient code optimization, resulting in faster and more effective performance compared to equivalent JavaScript code.
Easier refactoring
TypeScript makes easy renaming of the variables and functions in a large codebase by automatically updating references to those variables or functions.
Code documentation
Typescript allows developers to make their code with JSDoc comments. This makes it easier for the developers to understand the code and collaborate on projects.
Improved scalability
As projects expand, keeping tabs on variables and functions can become challenging. TypeScript simplifies project management and scalability by offering enhanced structure and organization to the codebase.
Reduced maintenance costs
TypeScript code’s increased maintainability and predictability result in reduced time and effort spent on debugging and maintenance. This advantage can lead to substantial cost savings over the project’s lifespan.
Reasons You Should Use JavaScript with React
Seamless integration
Since React is a JavaScript library, it effortlessly combines with JavaScript, empowering developers to leverage complete JavaScript capabilities within their React applications.
Component-based architecture
React’s component-based architecture works well with JavaScript, allowing for reusable components that make code more manageable and maintainable.
Rich ecosystem and libraries
JavaScript has a vast ecosystem with numerous libraries and tools. This provides React developers with a wealth of resources and solutions for common programming challenges.
Strong community support
Both JavaScript and React boast sizable and engaged communities, providing a wealth of resources, including tutorials, forums, and ready-made components, for support and development.
Improved performance
JavaScript’s flexibility and React’s efficient rendering and state management lead to improved performance of web applications.
Wide adoption in industry
Many companies use JavaScript and React, making these skills highly valuable and widely applicable in the job market.
Easy to learn for JavaScript developers
If you’re well-versed in JavaScript, picking up React tends to be more direct, enabling a smoother shift and faster uptake.
Conclusion
As we can see TypeScript transcompiles down to JavaScript it is not really one versus the other. While JavaScript is more popular and offers a wide range of libraries for React hardly it will be beneficial for old projects to migrate to TypeScript. On the other hand the typing system of the TypeScript with lot of error detection during compilation stage and IDE support to autocomplete code frees up the developer to focus on the feature development than on debugging.
