Writing libraries with typescript and generics

Question

So I'm writing a library with typescript and obviously, most people who will use it will be using javascript. My question is if I want to have a generic function in my library for example: testFunction<TestType>("hello world") If transpiled that into javascript, how would people using javascript interact with that generic function? Will I have to not use generics for the sake of the javascript user's? or does typescript have a way of making it work for javascript users?

Answer 1

Once your TypeScript is transpiled to JavaScript, downstream clients will lose the type information. In other words, JavaScript clients will just see the equivalent of testFunction("helloWorld"); . For downstream clients that are using TypeScript, they will be able to gain benefits (static analysis, type checks, auto-completion) from using your types as defined in your package.json.