Typescript #

Properly handle unknown errors #

interface ErrorWithCode extends Error {
    code: string;
}

function isErrorWithCode(err: unknown): err is ErrorWithCode {
    if (err instanceof Error) {
        if ('code' in err)) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    
    return false;
}

function doSomething(key: string) {
    try {
     ...
    } catch (ex) {
        if (isErrorWithCode(ex) && ex.code === 'ENOENT') {
          // do something
        } else {
            throw ex;
        }
    }

Get properties from unknown objects #

function getName(something: unknown) {
    let name: string | undefined;
    
    if (typeof something === 'object' && something !== null && 'name' in something) {
        if (typeof something.name === 'string') {
            name = something.name;
        }
    }
    
    return name;
}

Switch expression #

switch(expression) {
    case constant-expression1: {
        //statements;
        break;
    }
    case constant_expression2: {
        //statements;
        break;
    }
    default: {
        //statements;
        break;
    }
}

Delete generated js files #

tsc --build --clean

Typescript ? question mark - optional chaining #

const test = undefined;
console.log(test.length)
// TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'length')

const test = undefined;
console.log(test?.length)
// undefined

Typescript project references , nested tsconfig.json #

Nested tsconfigs do NOT automatically assume different projects
By adding references in the root project, you instruct tsc to build first the referenced projects and then the root one
The root tsconfig should exclude the directories of the referenced projects and the child projects should stop the exclusion on their own tsconfig
Referenced projects should have ‘composite’: true and noEmit: false in their tsconfigs
Project references

Typescript - improve performance #

tsconfig.json types array not getting used #

Delete the tsconfig.tsbuildinfo cache file!

Use of never for exhaustiveCheck #

function doSwitch(value: MyEnum): boolean {
    switch (value) {
        case MyEnum.A: return true;
        case MyEnum.B: return true;
        default: {
            // Use never type here
            const exhaustiveCheck: never = value;
            throw new Error(exhaustiveCheck);
        }
    }
}

Assign a property on constructor #

export class Lock {
    constructor(private lockName: string) {
    }
}

Assert not null with typescript typeguard #

function expectNotNull<T>(value: T): asserts value is NonNullable<T> {
    expect(value).not.toBeNull();
}

Assert not undefined with typescript typeguard #

function expectNotUndefined<T>(value: T): asserts value is NonUndefined<T> {
    if (value === undefined) {
        throw new Error('Value is undefined');
    }
}

type NonUndefined<T> = T extends undefined ? never : T;

ESM modules error: CustomError: Cannot find module … imported from … #

Add the “.js” NOT “.ts” extension in the import, i.e. import { EfficientQueue } from './EfficientQueue.js';

String comparator for sorting #

String.localCompare()

const items = ["réservé", "premier", "communiqué", "café", "adieu", "éclair"];
items.sort((a, b) => a.localeCompare(b));

Convert string array to union type #

const myVals = ['A', 'B'] as const;

type myUnionType = typeof myVals[number];

Convert a property of an object array to union type #

const colors = [
    { no: 1, name: 'Red' },
    { no: 2, name: 'Green' },
    { no: 3, name: 'Blue' },
] as const;

type ColorName = typeof colors[number]['name']; // 'Red' | 'Green' | 'Blue'

Convert string array to object keys #

const myVals = ['a', 'b'] as const;

type myObj = {
    [P in (typeof myVals)[number]]: boolean;
};

Convert object keys to union type #

const yesNo = {
    yes: 'Yes',
    no: 'No',
} as const;

type YesNo = typeof yesNo[keyof typeof yesNo];

Convert object keys to array #

const yesNo = {
    yes: 'Yes',
    no: 'No’
} as const;

const getKeys = Object.keys as <T extends object>(obj: T) => Array<keyof T>

const yesNoArr = getKeys(yesNo);

Typescript Object vs {} vs object #

TypeScript has three confusing types: Object, {} and object.

You can assign null and undefined to all three types if strictNullChecks compiler option is disabled otherwise the compile error occurs.

Object: Contains stuff (like toString(), hasOwnProperty()) that is present in all JavaScript objects. Any value (primitive, non-primitive) can be assigned to Object type.
{}: {} is an empty object. It is pretty much the same as Object in runtime but different in compile time. In compile time {} doesn’t have Object’s members and Object has more strict behavior (see the @golmschenk’s comment).
object: object was introduced in TypeScript 2.2. It is any non-primitive type. You can’t assign to it any primitive type like bool, number, string, symbol.

Differentiating between types in a union based on a key #

Use the ‘in’ operator as a type guard

interface Car {
    color: string;
    doors: number;
    speed: number;
    bootSize: number;
}

interface Bike {
    color: string;
    speed: number;
    type: string;
}

function doSomething(vehicle: Car | Bike) {
    if ('doors' in vehicle) {
        console.log(vehicle.bootSize);
    } else {
        console.log(vehicle.type);
    }
}

Destructuring #

Destructuring to new variables #

let { r, g, b } = colors;

Destructuring to new variables with different names #

let { r: red, g: green, b: blue } = colors;

Destructuring to existing variables #

let r, g, b;
({ r, g, b } = colors);

Destructuring to existing variables with different names #

let red, green, blue;
({ r: red, g: green, b: blue } = colors);

Destructuring into another object with same property names #

let myColor = { r: 0, g: 0, b: 0 };..
({ r: myColor.r, g: myColor.g, b: myColor.b } = colors);

Destructuring into another object with different property names #

let myColor = { red: 0, green: 0, blue: 0 };.
({ r: myColor.red, g: myColor.green, b: myColor.blue } = colors);

Array destructuring #

const RGB = [255, 180, 151];
const [red, green, blue] = RGB;

Destructure, Skip the first item and set default value #

const RGB = [255, 180];
// Set a default value (51) for the third item (`blue`)
const [, green, blue = 51] = RGB;

Access nested properties #

const student = {
    name: 'John Doe',
    age: 16,
    scores: {
        maths: 74,
        english: 63
    }
};

const { name, scores: {maths, science = 50} } = student;

Swap variables #

let width = 300;
let height = 400;

[width, height] = [height, width];

Nested array destructuring #

const color = ['#FF00FF', [255, 0, 255], 'rgb(255, 0, 255)'];
const [hex, [red, green, blue]] = color;

Rest items #

const rainbow = ['red', 'orange', 'yellow', 'green', 'blue', 'indigo', 'violet'];
const [red,, yellow, ...otherColors] = rainbow;
console.log(otherColors); // ['green', 'blue', 'indigo', 'violet']

Running esm scripts using ts-node #

In tsconfig.json

"ts-node": {
    "moduleTypes": {
        "./my-script.ts": "esm"
    }
}

To execute

node --loader ts-node/esm ./my-script.ts