Microsoft releases version 2.0 of javascript variant TypeScript

Microsoft has released the final release of TypeScript 2.0. The javascript superset has been extended with functionality that should further improve developer productivity, according to Microsoft.

TypeScript 2.0 can be downloaded for Visual Studio 2015 Update 3, downloaded via NuGet, used in Visual Studio Code or installed with npm, Microsoft reports. Version 2.0 makes it easier to use declaration files, or .d.ts files, among other things. In addition, null and undefined now have their own types and the control flow has been expanded. “If something is a number or null, you can now indicate it with the union type number | null,” explains Microsoft.

According to Microsoft, there have been 2 million npm downloads per month for the javascript superset, compared to 275,000 a year ago. Google, among others, uses it for its Angular 2 framework.

Microsoft announced TypeScript in 2012. The extended variant of javascript includes support for optional data types, classes and modules. Microsoft describes TypeScript as ‘javascript that scales’: especially developing large web apps would be easier.