dev.to with a TypeScript or Flow frontend codebase?

2 minute read

Shout out to @rhymes for giving this post a review. 👏

Before the dev.to codebase was opensourced, I was working on it in the private repository and created an issue in there that has since been copied to the public repository (thanks @maestromac!).

The https://github.com/thepracticaldev/dev.to/issues/383#issue-351630725 repository on GitHubOpenGraph image for https://github.com/thepracticaldev/dev.to/issues/383#issue-351630725

For those new to types, here's a post from Preethi Kasireddy about types.

Also, here's a fairly recent episode from the Script and Style podcast about types in JavaScript, Static Typing for JavaScript.

TypeScript permalink

I'm partial to TypeScript myself. I've written about it here before.

There appears to be a shift towards TypeScript for those that are interested in types. I wrote a bit about it here

There is also a great episode on the React Podcast that talks about TypeScript with Jared Palmer.

Take TypeScript for a spin in one of the playgrounds:

  • Unofficial Playground

Flow permalink

Flow is another option in the frontend in regards to types, although I've never used it myself.

Here are some links if you want to read up on Flow.

Take Flow for a spin in the Flow REPL

Other Options

I've narrowed it down to TypeScript and Flow as they are the most popular, but feel free to bring others to the table to discuss, e.g. Elm, Reason. (Thanks for chiming in on Twitter @magellol!)

Vanilla JS🍦 permalink

If you really don't want to see the codebase converted to use types, that's OK too.

same old stuff gif from giphy.com

Are static types something that would interest people in the dev.to community who are contributing to or are thinking about contributing to the frontend codebase? Feel free to discuss in the comments here and/or jump on over to the GitHub issue and comment there.

Debate animated gif from giphy.com