Unlock the Power of TypeScript with tsm
The web development world has been revolutionized by TypeScript, and its popularity continues to soar among enterprise projects and solo developers alike. Traditionally, executing TypeScript code involves transpiling it down to vanilla JavaScript for use in common environments like Node.js or the browser. However, a few innovative projects have emerged that allow developers to run their TypeScript code directly, and tsm is one of them.
What is tsm?
tsm is a brand-new TypeScript module loader for Node.js, created by Luke Edwards. It expands Node.js to provide native TypeScript support without the need to transpile it to JavaScript first. By leveraging esbuild under the hood, tsm quickly transpiles TypeScript sources into JavaScript on the fly before passing it to the Node.js runtime. This approach abstracts away the typical transpilation step, making it transparent to the user.
The Advantages of Using tsm
The primary advantage of using tsm is that developers don’t need to worry about TypeScript transpilation. This means shorter development feedback loops, simpler build tooling, and more straightforward deployment. tsm also runs on top of Node.js, making it easy for developers familiar with Node to incorporate TypeScript into their projects with a simple step. Additionally, tsm supports source maps, allowing developers to debug their TypeScript programs with the standard V8 debugging protocol and popular debugging tools like VS Code.
The Disadvantages of Using tsm
One relatively small trade-off of using tsm is that it must be installed, in addition to Node.js itself, on the system that needs to run the TypeScript code. However, this is not a significant issue for fully packaged Node.js modules. Moreover, unlike other elements of a project’s technology stack, JavaScript build tools like tsm can be swapped out later with minimal impact on the application’s source code itself.
How to Use tsm in a Node.js Project
There are several ways to integrate tsm into a Node.js project. You can use tsm as a replacement for the node executable, or use it with a shebang interpreter directive. Additionally, you can use the –require or –loader hooks to instruct node to use tsm to load TypeScript files.
Deno: An Alternative to tsm
tsm isn’t the only way to achieve transpilation-less executable TypeScript. Deno, a project created by Ryan Dahl, the founder of Node.js, ships with TypeScript support out of the box. Deno provides its own standard library as a replacement for the Node.js APIs and has its own paradigm for distributing modules. While code written for Node.js in TypeScript may not be portable to Deno, it’s an alternative worth considering.
Real-World Examples of tsm in Action
Several notable projects have already adopted tsm, including create-figma-plugin, a comprehensive toolkit for developing plugins and widgets for Figma and FigJam; tinyhttp, a modern web framework written in TypeScript; and nanostores, a tiny state manager for JavaScript projects.
Get Started with tsm Today
In conclusion, tsm is a powerful tool that allows developers to integrate TypeScript into their Node.js projects quickly and seamlessly. With its ability to leverage the vast ecosystem of packages in npm and the powerful Node.js APIs, tsm is an excellent choice for developers who want to take advantage of TypeScript without the hassle of transpilation. Try tsm today and discover the benefits of native TypeScript support in your Node.js projects!