MichiganTypeScript (@michigantypescript.com)

Inferred Type Predicates - TypeScript 5.5's top new feature This has has been a top wishlist features for so many people for so many years. Dan tells the story of how he cracked it, then we do a deep dive on the code itself. Although this was a pretty technical conversation there ended up also being quite a lot of great conversation on staying motivated and thinking through all the aspects of the problem from side-effects to performance implications. Links: - Original PR https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/pull/57465 - A blogpost Dan wrote about it: https://effectivetypescript.com/2024/04/16/inferring-a-type-predicate - The TypeScript release notes that cover it https://devblogs.microsoft.com/typescript/announcing-typescript-5-5-rc/#inferred-type-predicates Dan Vanderkam is an independent software developer, formerly at Google and Sidewalk Labs. He is the author of numerous open source JavaScript/TypeScript libraries, including the dygraphs charting library, source-map-explorer, literate-ts, pg-to-ts and crosswalk. He is the author of "Effective TypeScript: 83 Specific Ways to Improve Your TypeScript" (O'Reilly 2024) and has spoken at numerous TS conferences. When he's not writing about TypeScript, Dan enjoys hiking, rock climbing and birding. Also, Effective TypeScript is one of the most practical and useful books on TypeScript in existence. A lot of us at MiTS have a copy and you'll be seeing Dan again in the future to talk about it. Between now and then you can order a copy here: https://amzn.to/3UjPrsK. https://effectivetypescript.com https://danvk.org https://github.com/danvk https://twitter.com/danvdk 00:00:00 in this episode 00:02:06 the Recurse Center (deciding to tackle this issue) 00:03:53 first issue: numeric literal separators in ES2021 00:07:36 rediscovering this old issue 00:08:28 explaining the fundamentals of the feature 00:13:43 the idea for the first approach to solving the issue 00:16:24 wrong assumptions about how the compiler handles inference 00:17:59 what is a "Flow Node" in the compiler 00:21:46 about the TypeScript AST Viewer 00:22:18 second attempt: using Flow Nodes 00:23:26 digging into the code for the actual implementation 00:28:03 what most people don't understand about how type predicates actually work 00:30:21 are MiTS viewers interested in blog post readings (WITH the author)? 00:31:33 looking deeper than a type predicate goes 00:33:23 working with TypeScript's exhaustive test suite 00:36:03 dealing with outlier falsey types (like empty string, NaN, etc.) 00:38:27 what about `[].filter(Boolean)` (array filter with the Boolean constructor) 00:39:14 type guards now flow between functions 00:40:35 sage-tier advice from Anders Hejlsberg 00:41:20 building the courage to submit the PR 00:43:59 a scary moment where it looked like the solution might not actually work 00:46:37 a solution to the setback after going for a walk 00:50:29 a totally unique approach within the TypeScript compiler codebase 00:53:12 the process for getting it reviewed and approved and merged 00:54:36 performance optimization work 00:56:42 playing around with the end result 00:57:24 playing with truthiness checks 00:59:15 revisiting: why you shouldn't use .filter(Boolean) 01:01:57 about teaching these concepts 01:02:52 how ts-reset handles filter(Boolean) 01:05:51 wrapping up 01:07:49 after it all: it turns out this could have been done years ago Twitter: https://twitter.com/MiTypeScript Mastodon: https://fosstodon.org/@MichiganTypeScript BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/michigantypescript.com Threads: https://www.threads.net/@michigantypescript Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michigantypescript TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@michigantypescript Discord: https://discord.michigantypescript.com GitHub: https://github.com/MichiganTypeScript SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/michigan-typescript https://youtu.be/LTuzl2r2HjA