TypeScript Best Practices for 2023

As TypeScript continues to gain popularity, it's important to stay up-to-date with the latest best practices. Here are my recommendations for writing better TypeScript code in 2023.

Use Strict Mode

Always enable strict mode in your tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "strict": true
  }
}

This enables a suite of type-checking flags that catch more errors at compile time.

Leverage Type Inference

TypeScript's type inference is powerful. Don't add type annotations when they're unnecessary:

// Unnecessary
const name: string = "Brian";

// Better - type is inferred
const name = "Brian";

Use Discriminated Unions

Discriminated unions are a powerful pattern for modeling complex states:

type LoadingState = { status: "loading" };
type SuccessState = { status: "success", data: User[] };
type ErrorState = { status: "error", error: Error };

type State = LoadingState | SuccessState | ErrorState;

Avoid Any

The any type defeats the purpose of using TypeScript. Use unknown instead when you need to represent values of uncertain types.

Conclusion

By following these practices, you'll write more robust TypeScript code that's easier to maintain and refactor.