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It's because they've been making some great decisions lately. I've been using Typescript in an Electron project I've been working on (https://getpolarized.io/

It's because they've been making some great decisions lately. I've been using Typescript in an Electron project I've been working on (https://getpolarized.io/ https://getpolarized.io/) which is a doc manager for PDF and web content. Typescript is awesome. It's basically Java 8/9 in terms of language design. Supports interfaces, generics, etc. If you add VS code and their github acquisition they're going to be in front of a lot of developers in the next 2-5 years.

actuator 8y ago
While I agree that Typescript, VSCode and Github might earn a lot of love from open source community. I can't see how they will be able to leverage this with their other products which make them money. These products work with other ecosystems just as well and I can't see Microsoft products benefiting from them. The only big positive is the change of perception this brings.
draw_down 8y ago
Dev ergonomics are great and all, but I kinda doubt that's where the bump in market cap is coming from.
geodel 8y ago
> If you add VS code and their github acquisition they're going to be in front of a lot of developers in the next 2-5 years. Lot of Javascript developers I think. There was a time when every Java application was supposed to be written in NodeJS. Thankfully, better sense prevailed.
chrisco255 8y ago
I mean, I love their tooling too, but the financial markets couldn't give a damn about VS Code or TypeScript. The GitHub acquisition is interesting, but as far as I know, GH was losing money on operations. I think Azure's growth, Office and Windows continued strength in the mobile era (despite predictions of the end of the PC), have more to do with MS's stock price than TypeScript.
- RandallBrown 8y ago
  Isn't the better tooling at least part of what fuels the growth of Azure, Office, and Windows by making it more useful to consumers?
  - millstone 8y ago
    Azure yes, Windows and Office no. TypeScript and VSCode make it easier to migrate AWAY from Windows.
    - pythonaut_16 8y ago
      But they also make is easier to migrate to Windows. .NET Core is a similar play. Microsoft can no longer rely on Windows alone to pull developers and products to Windows so instead they're trying to attract developers to build for any & every platform on Microsoft's stack and support Windows as a by product and maybe choose Azure as well. So in a sense they've switched to a carrot model rather than a stick model.
LiterallyDoge 8y ago
What did you find you liked about Typescript? I considered it and opted for pure ES6/Next because the typing didn't feel like it would actually help sanitize my data. If I get a bad payload from the server, it's still transpiled at that point, and that's when I really need to know what my data type is. Otherwise I just sanitize at use (like all JS) and the overall overhead is less. Maybe you know something that I don't?
- nicoburns 8y ago
  It's pretty useful for libraries, as you don't have to do anything, but still get type safety benefits. It also has really good tooling. If you use anything like ES Lint, then TypeScript does a similar job but is a step up in quality.
- dean177 8y ago
  Maybe you will be interested in a library I wrote: https://github.com/Dean177/jest-to-match-shape-of https://github.com/Dean177/jest-to-match-shape-of I had the same issue, types don't mean anything if they don't align with the data that your app is consuming. My solution was that matcher combined with some integration tests.
- matthewmacleod 8y ago
  In my experience, retrieving external data is not the point at which Typescript is useful – it's usually safe to the make the assumption that whatever data you retrieve meets the contract you've already agreed. But it does prevent whole classes of bugs that I found were pretty common in plain JS: - "This thing was null but you didn't account for this case" - "You should have a number here but something returned a string" - "You have made an invisible typo in a property name" - "You have not handled all possible values in this function" - "You accessed some data internal to a class that wasn't meant to be changed" Basically my experience is that is substantially cuts down on the number of stupid bugs that end up in my code. The code completion is also fantastic!
yazr 8y ago
Very nice product. Which lib is used for pdf processing ? Is epub support in the roadmap ?

actuator 8y ago

While I agree that Typescript, VSCode and Github might earn a lot of love from open source community. I can't see how they will be able to leverage this with their other products which make them money. These products work with other ecosystems just as well and I can't see Microsoft products benefiting from them. The only big positive is the change of perception this brings.

draw_down 8y ago

Dev ergonomics are great and all, but I kinda doubt that's where the bump in market cap is coming from.

geodel 8y ago

> If you add VS code and their github acquisition they're going to be in front of a lot of developers in the next 2-5 years. Lot of Javascript developers I think. There was a time when every Java application was supposed to be written in NodeJS. Thankfully, better sense prevailed.

chrisco255 8y ago

I mean, I love their tooling too, but the financial markets couldn't give a damn about VS Code or TypeScript. The GitHub acquisition is interesting, but as far as I know, GH was losing money on operations. I think Azure's growth, Office and Windows continued strength in the mobile era (despite predictions of the end of the PC), have more to do with MS's stock price than TypeScript.

RandallBrown 8y ago
Isn't the better tooling at least part of what fuels the growth of Azure, Office, and Windows by making it more useful to consumers?
- millstone 8y ago
  Azure yes, Windows and Office no. TypeScript and VSCode make it easier to migrate AWAY from Windows.
  - pythonaut_16 8y ago
    But they also make is easier to migrate to Windows. .NET Core is a similar play. Microsoft can no longer rely on Windows alone to pull developers and products to Windows so instead they're trying to attract developers to build for any & every platform on Microsoft's stack and support Windows as a by product and maybe choose Azure as well. So in a sense they've switched to a carrot model rather than a stick model.

LiterallyDoge 8y ago

What did you find you liked about Typescript? I considered it and opted for pure ES6/Next because the typing didn't feel like it would actually help sanitize my data. If I get a bad payload from the server, it's still transpiled at that point, and that's when I really need to know what my data type is. Otherwise I just sanitize at use (like all JS) and the overall overhead is less. Maybe you know something that I don't?

nicoburns 8y ago
It's pretty useful for libraries, as you don't have to do anything, but still get type safety benefits. It also has really good tooling. If you use anything like ES Lint, then TypeScript does a similar job but is a step up in quality.
dean177 8y ago
Maybe you will be interested in a library I wrote: https://github.com/Dean177/jest-to-match-shape-of https://github.com/Dean177/jest-to-match-shape-of I had the same issue, types don't mean anything if they don't align with the data that your app is consuming. My solution was that matcher combined with some integration tests.
matthewmacleod 8y ago
In my experience, retrieving external data is not the point at which Typescript is useful – it's usually safe to the make the assumption that whatever data you retrieve meets the contract you've already agreed. But it does prevent whole classes of bugs that I found were pretty common in plain JS: - "This thing was null but you didn't account for this case" - "You should have a number here but something returned a string" - "You have made an invisible typo in a property name" - "You have not handled all possible values in this function" - "You accessed some data internal to a class that wasn't meant to be changed" Basically my experience is that is substantially cuts down on the number of stupid bugs that end up in my code. The code completion is also fantastic!

yazr 8y ago

Very nice product. Which lib is used for pdf processing ? Is epub support in the roadmap ?