TypeScript 3.6 brings stricter checking to iterators and generators

The latest version has improvements for working with arrays and promises

Pro

(Image: Stockfresh)

21 August 2019

A release candidate is now available of Microsoft’s typed superset of JavaScript, TypeScript 3.6. It brings stricter checking of iterators and generators and an improved user experience around promises. The production release is due in late August 2019.

TypeScript 3.6 has stricter checking for generators and iterator functions. Previously, users of generators could not differentiate whether a value was yielded or returned from a generator.

TypeScript 3.6 also improves the experience around Promises, which are one of the most common ways to interact with asynchronous data. Using a Promise-oriented API can be confusing. In one example cited, a common mistake is to forget to .then() or await the contents of a Promise before passing it to another function. Beginning with TypeScript 3.6, specialised error messages will prompt the user to consider using the await keyword.

TypeScript 3.6 also introduces these improvements and changes:

To provide a more accurate array spread, a ___spreadArrays helper models what happens in ECMAScript 2015 in older targets outside of downlevelIteration.
Semicolon-aware code edits are supported. TypeScript is now able to detect whether a file uses semicolons in some editing processes. If a file lacks semicolons, TypeScript will not add them, as it had been doing.
Many declarations pertinent to DOM updates have been removed or changed with lib.dom.d.ts. These changes can break existing code.
TypeScript will only consult immediately preceding JSDoc comments to determine declared types. This too can break existing code.
Better Unicode support around identifiers when emitting to ECMAScript 2015 and later targets.
The get and set accessors are allowed in ambient contexts.
APIs support --build and --incremental.
Smarter auto-import syntax, around looking at existing imports before deciding how to import other modules.