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TypeScript Deep Dive
A Deep Dive into TypeScript.
378 pages, ebook
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92 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 6, 2017
I found book to be very useful read. Coming from Java background with long history using Javascript, book struck good balance of not over explaining basics or under explaining advanced concepts. Often hit Goldilocks balance for me. Book is called Deep Dive so expected to be in depth read and it was. My only criticism would be choice of examples using old "foo, bar" naming. Preferred real examples from common potential use cases, like React or Angular examples. Book also decent refresh on some ES6+ features I struggle to remember.
August 30, 2019
This book was a roller-coaster.
Despite what I'm about to say, I think this book is worth reading if you know some JavaScript and want to get into TypeScript. If you're a JavaScript ninja, it's probably better to jump to the TypeScript documentation. If you barely know JavaScript, it's worth starting somewhere else. Anywhere in the middle, this book can be useful.
The good bits:
• It's often short and to the point – things are explained briefly and I've found that much more preferable that lengthy explanations targeted at people new to programming (looking at you, Pragmatic Bookshelf).
• It starts with a rehash of JavaScript, which can be very useful if you learned JavaScript a while ago and haven't kept up with ES5+.
• It introduces not just the language, but a bunch of satellite things that are useful to know about – how JSX is handled, the compiler options, Prettier and a bunch of useful know-how.
The bad bits:
• The short examples are great, except when they are not. Some things are explained too mechanistically and it's hard to figure out how and why you would use a feature that's presented.
• A few of the examples make little or no sense. I'm sure the author understands them, but the reader has to ponder long and hard about what the point is.
• The style is all over the place. It's formal, informal, witty, dry, clear and messy at the same time. More often than not it felt more like a collection of Tumbler posts than a book. The use of Emoji's felt cool, until you realize it's the same handful of emoji all over.
• While some things are not given enough attention, other things are given too much attention. There is a big chunk about compiler internals that's completely unnecessary if you're not writing a static tool, and probably not enough if you are.
• There is a weird mixture of dogma and laxness that I can't quite put my finger on. There is a lot of opinion that you might or might not care about, but fundamentally is irrelevant to learning TypeScript.
• The typesetting for iBooks is borderline criminal.
Otherwise, TypeScript is great. I've been skeptical for years, as neither gradual typing nor type-checking only (as opposed to hints for compiler optimization) resonate with me. However, the authors have created a truly great language that's both pragmatic, flexible and doesn't get in your way. They've even managed to remove some annoyances with supposedly modern staticaly typed language (e.g. in the body of `if x != nil { }` or `if typeof x == "number"` the compiler treats x as a more specific type so you don't need to alias it) This enable a lot of really useful tools – add Visual Studio code in the mix, and writing JavaScript feels so much better.
On the bright side, the book is freely available (https://basarat.gitbooks.io/typescript/) and gets occasionally updated.
Despite what I'm about to say, I think this book is worth reading if you know some JavaScript and want to get into TypeScript. If you're a JavaScript ninja, it's probably better to jump to the TypeScript documentation. If you barely know JavaScript, it's worth starting somewhere else. Anywhere in the middle, this book can be useful.
The good bits:
• It's often short and to the point – things are explained briefly and I've found that much more preferable that lengthy explanations targeted at people new to programming (looking at you, Pragmatic Bookshelf).
• It starts with a rehash of JavaScript, which can be very useful if you learned JavaScript a while ago and haven't kept up with ES5+.
• It introduces not just the language, but a bunch of satellite things that are useful to know about – how JSX is handled, the compiler options, Prettier and a bunch of useful know-how.
The bad bits:
• The short examples are great, except when they are not. Some things are explained too mechanistically and it's hard to figure out how and why you would use a feature that's presented.
• A few of the examples make little or no sense. I'm sure the author understands them, but the reader has to ponder long and hard about what the point is.
• The style is all over the place. It's formal, informal, witty, dry, clear and messy at the same time. More often than not it felt more like a collection of Tumbler posts than a book. The use of Emoji's felt cool, until you realize it's the same handful of emoji all over.
• While some things are not given enough attention, other things are given too much attention. There is a big chunk about compiler internals that's completely unnecessary if you're not writing a static tool, and probably not enough if you are.
• There is a weird mixture of dogma and laxness that I can't quite put my finger on. There is a lot of opinion that you might or might not care about, but fundamentally is irrelevant to learning TypeScript.
• The typesetting for iBooks is borderline criminal.
Otherwise, TypeScript is great. I've been skeptical for years, as neither gradual typing nor type-checking only (as opposed to hints for compiler optimization) resonate with me. However, the authors have created a truly great language that's both pragmatic, flexible and doesn't get in your way. They've even managed to remove some annoyances with supposedly modern staticaly typed language (e.g. in the body of `if x != nil { }` or `if typeof x == "number"` the compiler treats x as a more specific type so you don't need to alias it) This enable a lot of really useful tools – add Visual Studio code in the mix, and writing JavaScript feels so much better.
On the bright side, the book is freely available (https://basarat.gitbooks.io/typescript/) and gets occasionally updated.
May 22, 2022
Although the book has the words 'deep dive' in the title, I feel like it took more of a 'breadth first' approach. The author attempted to cover all of JavaScript first before stepping into the TypeScript world and that might feel a bit redundant if you already know your JS. However, I came from the Python world and didn't mind the elaborate intro at all.
The chapters are concise and won't bombard you with incoherent streams of information. I followed along with the examples by firing up Microsoft's TS Playground and typing the code snippets by hand. This helped me to grasp TypeScript's take on type annotation and fuse the spout of ingress information with my existing experience of annotating dynamic languages.
The only issue that I have with the book is that it lacks any structure and the chapter orchestration often feels discrete. I'll argue that the official TypeScript doc does a better job at introducing the concepts. However, if you already know your way around in the JS world, this shouldn't be much of an issue.
September 29, 2019
This is a really fantastic introduction to TypeScript, along with all of the best features from more modern versions of JavaScript. It is very clearly written and well organized. I'm fairly experienced with JS by now, but the JS parts were still a great refresher and even taught me some new things. As someone who really wants to get hacking right now, I found it extremely practical.
I was pretty awed by the power of TypeScript by the time I was done with the book. It has some features more powerful than the OO language I'm used to (Java), yet it perfectly retrofits JS, a dynamically typed language, and fits like a glove.
For the advanced practitioner, there are also sections on hacking on TypeScript itself at the end of the book.
The entire book is available online and is kept up-to-date: https://basarat.gitbooks.io/typescript/.
I was pretty awed by the power of TypeScript by the time I was done with the book. It has some features more powerful than the OO language I'm used to (Java), yet it perfectly retrofits JS, a dynamically typed language, and fits like a glove.
For the advanced practitioner, there are also sections on hacking on TypeScript itself at the end of the book.
The entire book is available online and is kept up-to-date: https://basarat.gitbooks.io/typescript/.
September 4, 2019
This book seriously lacks proper structure. If you know enough languages, it’s not that hard to follow, but it covers topics haphazardly without really building up later chapters on early ones. And after 70% it becomes just random and reminds more dump from stack-overflow than a book.
October 15, 2019
Excellent book for software engineers using typescript, includes important patterns like importing, module resolution and conventions as well. Very easy to read and to base development process of. In favor, the domain is lightweight, but the material was not further complicated, rather kept simple.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2017
A good, helpful (perhaps even mandatory) read for anyone who wants to learn TypesScript.
November 12, 2018
Very informative but sometimes too deep of a dive while some areas which could use further explaining are rushed through. Will use this as a best practice reference!
January 23, 2019
Lots of useful tips for TS developers
January 27, 2019
Great book for learning the basic knowledge of ECMAScript as well as Typescript.
February 10, 2021
Good read but the style of writing and organisation of topics seem a bit all over the place.
August 4, 2016
I started on this book to get more details about a new programming language I've been learning, and it was somewhat helpful in that regard, but it just wasn't very interesting. There were many assumptions about what I might know coming in that were just not true (as I'm very new to Javascript in general), and much of what was there was quite esoteric. Additionally, a large portion was devoted to specific tips or best practices, but very little was given in the way of justification for most of it.
In the near future, a Manning book on TypeScript + Angular 2 development is being released, and I have already pre-ordered that one. Based on past experience with that publisher, I expect it to be much more helpful than this one was.
In the near future, a Manning book on TypeScript + Angular 2 development is being released, and I have already pre-ordered that one. Based on past experience with that publisher, I expect it to be much more helpful than this one was.
October 18, 2016
I got some good info on TypeScript from this book. It is however very unorderly, and some chapters are nothing more then a series of single brief sentences separated by small blocks of code. There is a lot of mistakes and the whole feeling I'm left with is that of a half finished text which will never get polished. Still, it's free, informative and comprehensive. Just don't expect a typical book-reading experience.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews