TypeScript

Enterprise-grade TypeScript development following industry best practices. This skill covers type system mastery, advanced patterns, generic programming, utility types, and type-safe design patterns used by top engineering teams.

Purpose

Write type-safe code that scales with confidence:

• Master TypeScript's type system
• Leverage generics for reusable code
• Use utility types effectively
• Implement type-safe patterns
• Handle complex type scenarios
• Improve code maintainability

Features

1. Type Fundamentals

// Primitive types
const name: string = 'John';
const age: number = 30;
const isActive: boolean = true;

// Arrays and tuples
const numbers: number[] = [1, 2, 3];
const tuple: [string, number, boolean] = ['John', 30, true];
const namedTuple: [name: string, age: number] = ['John', 30];

// Object types
interface User {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  email: string;
  age?: number; // Optional
  readonly createdAt: Date; // Readonly
}

// Type aliases
type ID = string | number;
type Status = 'pending' | 'active' | 'inactive';
type Callback = (error: Error | null, result?: unknown) => void;

// Union and intersection types
type StringOrNumber = string | number;
type AdminUser = User & { role: 'admin'; permissions: string[] };

// Literal types
type Direction = 'north' | 'south' | 'east' | 'west';
type HTTPMethod = 'GET' | 'POST' | 'PUT' | 'DELETE';

// Template literal types
type EventName = `on${Capitalize<string>}`;
type APIRoute = `/api/${string}`;

2. Advanced Type Patterns

// Discriminated unions
type Result<T, E = Error> =
  | { success: true; data: T }
  | { success: false; error: E };

function processResult<T>(result: Result<T>): T | null {
  if (result.success) {
    return result.data;
  } else {
    console.error(result.error);
    return null;
  }
}

// Type guards
function isString(value: unknown): value is string {
  return typeof value === 'string';
}

function isUser(value: unknown): value is User {
  return (
    typeof value === 'object' &&
    value !== null &&
    'id' in value &&
    'email' in value
  );
}

// Assertion functions
function assertDefined<T>(value: T | null | undefined): asserts value is T {
  if (value === null || value === undefined) {
    throw new Error('Value is not defined');
  }
}

// Conditional types
type NonNullable<T> = T extends null | undefined ? never : T;
type ExtractArray<T> = T extends (infer U)[] ? U : never;
type ReturnTypeOf<T> = T extends (...args: any[]) => infer R ? R : never;

// Mapped types
type Nullable<T> = { [K in keyof T]: T[K] | null };
type Optional<T> = { [K in keyof T]?: T[K] };
type Readonly<T> = { readonly [K in keyof T]: T[K] };

3. Generics

// Generic functions
function identity<T>(value: T): T {
  return value;
}

function first<T>(array: T[]): T | undefined {
  return array[0];
}

function map<T, U>(array: T[], fn: (item: T) => U): U[] {
  return array.map(fn);
}

// Generic constraints
interface Lengthwise {
  length: number;
}

function logLength<T extends Lengthwise>(value: T): T {
  console.log(value.length);
  return value;
}

// Generic interfaces
interface Repository<T, ID = string> {
  findById(id: ID): Promise<T | null>;
  findAll(): Promise<T[]>;
  create(data: Omit<T, 'id'>): Promise<T>;
  update(id: ID, data: Partial<T>): Promise<T | null>;
  delete(id: ID): Promise<boolean>;
}

// Generic classes
class Stack<T> {
  private items: T[] = [];

  push(item: T): void {
    this.items.push(item);
  }

  pop(): T | undefined {
    return this.items.pop();
  }

  peek(): T | undefined {
    return this.items[this.items.length - 1];
  }
}

// Constrained generic with keyof
function getProperty<T, K extends keyof T>(obj: T, key: K): T[K] {
  return obj[key];
}

4. Utility Types

interface User {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  email: string;
  password: string;
  role: 'user' | 'admin';
  createdAt: Date;
}

// Partial - make all optional
type UserUpdate = Partial<User>;

// Required - make all required
type CompleteUser = Required<User>;

// Readonly - make all readonly
type ImmutableUser = Readonly<User>;

// Pick - select specific properties
type UserCredentials = Pick<User, 'email' | 'password'>;

// Omit - exclude specific properties
type PublicUser = Omit<User, 'password'>;

// Record - create object type
type UserRoles = Record<string, User['role']>;

// Exclude/Extract - work with unions
type NonAdminRole = Exclude<User['role'], 'admin'>;

// Parameters/ReturnType - function types
type FunctionParams = Parameters<(a: string, b: number) => void>;
type FunctionReturn = ReturnType<() => Promise<User>>;

// Custom utility types
type DeepPartial<T> = {
  [K in keyof T]?: T[K] extends object ? DeepPartial<T[K]> : T[K];
};

type DeepReadonly<T> = {
  readonly [K in keyof T]: T[K] extends object ? DeepReadonly<T[K]> : T[K];
};

5. Type-Safe API Design

// Type-safe API client
interface APIEndpoints {
  '/users': {
    GET: { response: User[]; params: { page?: number } };
    POST: { response: User; body: Omit<User, 'id'> };
  };
  '/users/:id': {
    GET: { response: User; params: { id: string } };
    DELETE: { response: void; params: { id: string } };
  };
}

async function apiRequest<
  Path extends keyof APIEndpoints,
  Method extends keyof APIEndpoints[Path]
>(
  path: Path,
  method: Method,
  config?: APIEndpoints[Path][Method]
): Promise<APIEndpoints[Path][Method]['response']> {
  const response = await fetch(path, { method: method as string });
  return response.json();
}

6. Error Handling Patterns

// Type-safe Result type
type Result<T, E = Error> =
  | { ok: true; value: T }
  | { ok: false; error: E };

function ok<T>(value: T): Result<T, never> {
  return { ok: true, value };
}

function err<E>(error: E): Result<never, E> {
  return { ok: false, error };
}

// Error class hierarchy
class AppError extends Error {
  constructor(
    message: string,
    public readonly code: string,
    public readonly statusCode: number = 500
  ) {
    super(message);
    this.name = 'AppError';
  }
}

class NotFoundError extends AppError {
  constructor(resource: string, id: string) {
    super(`${resource} with id ${id} not found`, 'NOT_FOUND', 404);
  }
}

// Try/catch wrapper
async function tryCatch<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<Result<T, Error>> {
  try {
    const value = await fn();
    return ok(value);
  } catch (error) {
    return err(error instanceof Error ? error : new Error(String(error)));
  }
}

7. Declaration Files

// types/express.d.ts
declare global {
  namespace Express {
    interface Request {
      user?: User;
      requestId: string;
    }
  }
}

// types/environment.d.ts
declare global {
  namespace NodeJS {
    interface ProcessEnv {
      NODE_ENV: 'development' | 'production' | 'test';
      DATABASE_URL: string;
      API_KEY: string;
    }
  }
}

// Module declarations
declare module '*.svg' {
  const content: React.FunctionComponent<React.SVGAttributes<SVGElement>>;
  export default content;
}

Use Cases

Type-Safe Redux State

interface AppState {
  users: UsersState;
  products: ProductsState;
}

type Action =
  | { type: 'USERS_LOADED'; payload: User[] }
  | { type: 'USER_ADDED'; payload: User };

function reducer(state: AppState, action: Action): AppState {
  switch (action.type) {
    case 'USERS_LOADED':
      return { ...state, users: { items: action.payload } };
    default:
      return state;
  }
}

Type-Safe Event Emitter

type EventMap = {
  userCreated: { user: User };
  userDeleted: { userId: string };
};

class TypedEventEmitter<Events extends Record<string, unknown>> {
  private listeners = new Map<keyof Events, Set<(data: any) => void>>();

  on<E extends keyof Events>(event: E, listener: (data: Events[E]) => void): void {
    if (!this.listeners.has(event)) {
      this.listeners.set(event, new Set());
    }
    this.listeners.get(event)!.add(listener);
  }

  emit<E extends keyof Events>(event: E, data: Events[E]): void {
    this.listeners.get(event)?.forEach(listener => listener(data));
  }
}

Best Practices

Do's

• Enable strict mode in tsconfig
• Use interfaces for object shapes
• Leverage type inference
• Use discriminated unions for state
• Prefer readonly for immutable data
• Use unknown over any
• Create reusable generic types

Don'ts

• Don't use any unless necessary
• Don't ignore errors with @ts-ignore
• Don't overuse type assertions
• Don't create overly complex generics
• Don't forget null/undefined handling
• Don't skip strict null checks

Configuration

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2022",
    "module": "ESNext",
    "strict": true,
    "noImplicitAny": true,
    "strictNullChecks": true,
    "noUnusedLocals": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true
  }
}

References

• TypeScript Documentation
• TypeScript Deep Dive
• Type Challenges