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1. chpatr+(OP)[view] [source] 2025-12-04 16:31:51
TypeScript is a really decent language though, I wouldn't feel happier or more productive using Fortran or whatever. Its type system is actually really powerful which is what matters when it comes to avoiding bugs, and it's easy to write functional code with correct-by-construction data. If you need some super optimized code then sure that's what WASM is for but that's not the problem with most web apps, the usual problem is bad design, but then choice of language doesn't save you. Sure TS has some annoying legacy stuff from JS but every language has cruft, and with strict linting you can eliminate it.

It's also better if there's one ecosystem instead of one fragmented with different languages where you have to write bindings for everything you want to use.

replies(3): >>9rx+rq >>int_19+Uw1 >>friend+Wv2
2. 9rx+rq[view] [source] 2025-12-04 18:35:10
>>chpatr+(OP)
> Its type system is actually really powerful which is what matters when it comes to avoiding bugs

It is really powerful as compared to Javascript. It is even really powerful as compared to most other languages people normally use. But not very powerful as compared to languages that have 'proper' type systems. Typescript still relies on you writing tests for everything.

The type system is a huge boon for the developer experience, of course. It enables things like automatic refactoring that make development much more pleasant (although LLMs are getting better at filling that void in dynamically typed languages). But it doesn't save you from bugs in a way that the tests you have to write anyway won't also save you from. And those same tests would also catch the same bugs in Javascript, so you're in the same place either way with respect to that.

3. int_19+Uw1[view] [source] 2025-12-05 00:35:33
>>chpatr+(OP)
Its type system is also full of holes because it has to be compatible with JavaScript, being a superset.
replies(1): >>chpatr+mM2
4. friend+Wv2[view] [source] 2025-12-05 09:49:51
>>chpatr+(OP)
> It's also better if there's one ecosystem instead of one fragmented with different languages where you have to write bindings for everything you want to use.

This argument is slightly backwards. This is essentially the argument used for "javascript in the backend" and "let's package the whole browser as application runtime so we can use javascript". The core of the argument is that javascript is ipso facto the best language/runtime to write any code in, including refactoring existing codebases. Bringing javascript out of the browser also means you have to write bindings for javascript and recreate the existing ecosystems anyway.

Even if you approach this from "single codebase across runtimes" angle, the conclusion to bridge the gap between browsers and languages with existing codebase, expertise and ecosystems is much more reasonable than rewrite everything in javascript.

replies(1): >>chpatr+8M2
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5. chpatr+8M2[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-05 12:02:48
>>friend+Wv2
Everything is already written in JavaScript. If we had WASM from the start and dozens of languages with different APIs we wouldn't be better off.
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6. chpatr+mM2[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-12-05 12:04:15
>>int_19+Uw1
Sure, the type system isn't perfect but it still beats 90% of mainstream languages in use today.
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