Proposal: Migrate to TypeScript

[chidexebere]

Reasons

I have gone through a reasonable amount of the codebase and I have seen that there is a need to improve the development experience and code quality. TypeScript is better suited for building and managing large-scale applications with multiple teams.

• It checks the code for errors and warnings before you run it.
• It static typing feature will reduce the number of errors at build time; hence better developer experience.
• There will be no need for prop-types, type checking feature will take care of this.
• It makes code easier to read, maintain, and debug, and can also help reduce the risk of security vulnerabilities.
• It provides extra tooling and features like interfaces, classes, namespaces, generics, etc.

Proposal

• Migration can be done in parts since existing JavaScript code will still run in TypeScript.
• TypeScript code must not be strictly typed as the migration starts. Changes can be made as it progresses. For example, tests can still be left as JavaScript code.

[hellais]

Ah yes this does indeed sound like a very good idea. As a matter of fact for newer projects we have started building them in typescript from the beginning.

If you would like to take a stab at starting the migration to typescript that would be fantastic!

[chidexebere]

I wanted to share my plan for the migration.

1. Set up TypeScript: Install TypeScript and Create a tsconfig.json file to configure TypeScript.
2. Rename the .js files to .tsx. I will start with the components folder and move to others.
3. Update dependencies: Some third-party libraries have TypeScript typings available. I will Install these typings (e.g., @types/package-name). If typings are not available, I may need to create custom type definitions or leverage TypeScript's any type for those libraries.
4. Type annotations and interfaces: Gradually add type annotations to the codebase using interfaces or type aliases.
5. Compile and test: Run tests to ensure the migration hasn't introduced any regressions or bugs.
6. Refactor and optimize.
7. Iterate and repeat from step 2 as I move from one folder to another. Push code with migration done per folder.