Pro TypeScript: Application-Scale JavaScript Development

by Steve Fenton

JavaScript is everywhere, both as a pure language and in popular libraries like Angular, jQuery and Knockout, but users of modern object-oriented languages like Java and C# often find JavaScript frustrating to use and hard to extend to large-scale applications. TypeScript is an innovative open source language from Microsoft that combines powerful language features and enhanced tooling support with the key attractions of JavaScript as a flexible, dynamic language that can run in any browser and on any operating system. Pro TypeScript tells you everything you need to know about this exciting new language and how to use it in your applications.

Starting with an introduction to the language and its features, the book takes you through some of the major features of TypeScript in depth, from working with the type system through object-orientation to understanding the runtime and the TypeScript compiler. The book then covers some of the factors you need to consider when running a TypeScript application in the browser, including interacting with the DOM, making asynchronous requests, and working with useful browser APIs, followed by a demonstration of server-side TypeScript using the popular Node.js framework.

Because TypeScript compiles to plain JavaScript, exception handling, memory management and garbage collection can differ depending on where you run your program, so these topics get a chapter to themselves. You’ll also find out how to include popular JavaScript frameworks in your applications, so you can combine the benefits of TypeScript with some of the best JavaScript code that’s already out there waiting to be used. The final chapter gives an overview of automated testing for TypeScript applications.

Pro TypeScript offers a balanced and practical guide to a language that will transform your experience of JavaScript development.

What you’ll learn The key TypeScript language features How to work with the TypeScript type system How to transfer your object-orientation skills to TypeScript Useful JavaScript patterns and features that work well with TypeScript How to consume existing JavaScript libraries in your TypeScript program How to run TypeScript in a web browser or on a server Who this book is for

Pro Typescript is for the professional application developer writing applications to run on JavaScript engines in browsers or on web servers. To get the most out of this book, you should be familiar with object-oriented programming in a modern language such as C# or Java. The techniques shown will build on your existing object-oriented programming skills and show you how to transfer them to your TypeScript applications.

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Software, Technology, Nonfiction

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 26, 2014

About the author

Steve Fenton is a Principal DevEx Researcher at Octopus Deploy, a DORA Community Guide, and a eight-time Microsoft MVP for developer technologies. He’s a Software Punk, an author, a programming-architect, a pragmatist/abstractionist, and a generalising-generalist. He has written books on TypeScript, Octopus Deploy, and Web Operations Monitoring.

Reviews

[Temo Tchanukvadze · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good introduction in Typescript & ES6+.

[Mark Nenadov · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book if you want to get to get to know Typescript. It's written with attention to detail, plenty of solid examples, and gives a pretty good deep dive. I know it's a small thing, but I also appreciated the variety of quotes from old software development luminaries (you just don't expect that sort of thing in a JavaScript book). There were a couple chapters that weren't very interesting to me, but overall, when discussing the core topic, this book was very helpful.

[Tomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were several good things I have taken away from this book, but it still feels a bit padded, although if you wanted not only TS but a lot of JS, you will find it here. Though I would have preferred a shorter read.

[Duranius · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book, after I started working with Angular 2. First time when I saw Angular 2 (most of the time I worked with PHP and I'm more like a backend developer) I was like wtf, I can't follow anything and why the things are so complicated, but in a fact I was unaware how JavaScript progressed. So, to start with Angular 2, I decided to dig a bit into TypeScript and this book was the perfect shoot.

The book gives you an overview about TypeScript, pros and cons, and starts immediately with some really good examples and explanations. Lot of the story I just re-learned (lot of the things are almost the same as in C language), and after reading first three chapters you will be able to follow Angular 2 official tutorials and you will understand what is happening there.

I can only recommend this book.

[Nick Hodges · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal book. One of the best programming books I have ever read. If you want to learn TypeScript, this is the book. I'm only mildly familiar with JavaScript, and this book was perfect for me. Absolutely brilliant. Clear, concise, easy to read, well-written. Just an all around excellent book.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fenton has written a good, concise, and thorough-enough introduction to TypeScript for the experienced programmer. A wide range of topics are covered, some only enough to give one familiarity as they dig into the topic themselves. Some guidance on idiomatic TS and best practices was appreciated, and even more discussion of these things--especially at scale--would have been appreciated. I'll definitely be reviewing my notes of this book soon. Recommended, if you want to get up to speed quickly on TypeScript and you have a decent amount of JavaScript grounding.

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it - concise yet insightful

Really feels like I got my money's worth. The author get straight to the point without leaving you feeling like he's leaving anything out. Easy to follow along - truly a great read.

[Frank Palardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of Typescript, which is a big boost for JavaScript.

[Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book, Steve goes into many more subjects than what you expect from a book on TypeScript

[Ondrej Sykora · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive overview of TypeScript features and some development practices.

The book was quite dry to read, and might be incomprehensible to those who are not familiar with (modern) JavaScript development, as it references JS features, but doesn't really stop to explain them. If you're a JS programmer who wants to convert, this is probably a good book. But if you want to get started with web development and want to skip the JS stage, look elsewhere.

[Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good intro to TypeScript. All of it had value, but as the lines blur between JavaScript and TypeScript, there are several chapters that I didn't feel were needed in this volume. They contained standard JavaScript concepts available elsewhere.

[Fatih · Rating 4 out of 5]

You should know about Typescript because book has advanced topics. Some examples are poor content . Only one reading is not enough for this book. You can need one more reading. I recommend this book for frontend developer using javascript frameworks.