A Qualitative Case Study on Using TypeScript as a JavaScript Alternative in Frontend Web Development in the Industry

Abstract

JavaScript was initially created to make web pages interactive. No one knew at that time that Frontend could be as huge as it is nowadays. To minimize the shortcomings of the JavaScript language, TypeScript was devised as an alternative. In this thesis we define the boundaries of the rational use of both TypeScript and JavaScript. The research aims to compare the two most commonly used programming languages on the Frontend side: JavaScript and TypeScript. The case study approach was used to gather and analyse the information. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was chosen for the current study. The findings of the current study provide both empirical and theoretical implications. For this work the survey was made to understand the opinion of experienced software developers concerning the language choice on the Frontend side. The information taken from the respondents is based on their JavaScript and TypeScript experience. Data collected from the survey is processed and analysed, and results are presented in a format of charts and graphs. Moreover, two application prototypes were created for the study purposes. Results showed that the difference between using TypeScript and JavaScript is not significant for the MVP. But if the MVP scales in the future, TypeScript will be the right choice. TypeScript was designed to build and maintain large-scale applications. But each tool has its limitations and TypeScript is not suitable for every case, for instance, writing extra lines of code, time consuming initial setup and issues with some third-party libraries add complexity to the project. As a result, it can be noted that TypeScript is not a panacea and it cannot be used everywhere.