TypeScript has grown in prominence among frontend developers in recent years. Its success may be attributed to improved maintainability, code uniformity, and future browser support, to name a few factors. Although many other frameworks and libraries use TypeScript by default, React has stayed neutral, allowing developers to use TypeScript or JavaScript.

This post will discuss the top compelling reasons you should consider TypeScript in your React apps. In addition, some of the most typical problems were highlighted to better prepare for the voyage.

Also, if you want to introduce TS but don’t have the time or energy, here’s a tip: You may develop, combine, and publish decoupled React components with or without TS using Bit (Github). It implies you may introduce TS one component at a time into an existing React project.

1. Components that are simple to read and comprehend

Prop types are simple to create with TypeScript, making the code simpler to read and understand. Also included will be IntelliSense support as well as static type checking.

These factors, when combined, provide for an excellent development environment and lower the likelihood of defects. In addition, adding comments to Prop types improves readability while inspecting a component specification.

2. Improved JSX support

Another advantage of TypeScript With React is improving JSX IntelliSense and code completion.

Use Bit to share your reusable components across projects (Github).

Bit enables a breeze to share, document, and reuse independent components across projects. Use it to increase code reuse, maintain a consistent design, communicate as a team, accelerate delivery, and create scalable applications.

Node, TypeScript, React, Vue, Angular, and more frameworks are supported by Bit.

3. Support for TypeScript by default in standard libraries

If you used TypeScript a few years ago, you might remember the agony of trying to find Type support for third-party libraries. However, as TypeScript has grown in popularity, Type Definitions are now supported by the most regularly used libraries. Furthermore, Type Definitions are already supported by the React library ecosystem, so you won’t have to worry about it.

4. Adoption of current projects in stages

Choosing TypeScript isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. It is, instead, a progressive modification based on the project’s present state. Assume you’ve opted to utilize TypeScript in your current React project. You should consider combining JavaScript with TypeScript, progressively increasing the TypeScript coverage in such a situation.

Additionally, the TypeScript compiler parameters may be configured for a progressive transition.

5. IntelliSense and Static type checking provide a lot of advantages

Static Type Checking

Static type checking aids in the early detection of problems. The above example recognizes that the getDetails function accepts a string rather than a number.

Better IntelliSense

When TypeScript static type checking is used with IntelliSense, you may be confident that IntelliSense is 100 percent correct.

Better Refactoring

Refactoring is considerably simpler with TypeScript since we know precisely which Types to modify and where to alter them. And detecting anything that went wrong early will guarantee that you don’t damage anything.

Less Undefined Errors

Undefined errors are less likely to emerge at runtime since the TypeScript compiler catches them at transpile time.

Improved Readability and Maintainability

The codebase will be significantly more understandable and maintained using Type Definitions. In addition, object-oriented programming concepts may be readily followed, and techniques such as Interfaces can be used to arrange your code with the least amount of coupling.

TypeScript Challenges To Overcome

Since we’ve previously covered the benefits of TypeScript, let’s look at the drawbacks so we can be better prepared for TypeScript adoption.

Curve of Learning

One of the issues of getting started with TypeScript is the learning curve, mainly if your team comes from a vanilla JavaScript background. In this instance, progressive adaptation, as explained above, is the best approach.

However, learning Typescript will be pretty simple if the team is already comfortable with highly typed languages like Java or C#.

Type Definitions may be absent in a third-party library

It is an unusual occurrence now that TypeScript has gained popularity. If you come into a library that doesn’t include the Definitions, the TypeScript official documentation is an excellent place to start. Please see this page for further information.

Compilation Time

Because the source code needs to travel through another layer of transpiling, it will naturally take a few milliseconds longer. However, most of the time, this will go unnoticed. And the advantages of having more development expertise and being less prone to bugs will exceed the disadvantage of taking longer.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading it this far through the article. In conclusion, you can see that adding TypeScript to your next React project is a fantastic idea. You could even migrate your current React project to TypeScript.