Variables and Types

In TypeScript, variables are containers for storing data values. TypeScript enhances variables with type annotations, allowing you to enforce the type of data your variables can hold. This helps in catching type-related errors early in the development process, making your code more robust and maintainable. There are several basic types in TypeScript, including:

• number: For numeric values.
• string: For textual data.
• boolean: For true/false values.
• any: A wildcard type that can be anything.
• arrays: For collections of values, denoted by Type[] or Array<Type>.

Defining a variable is done in TypeScript can be done either using a type or omitting it. If omitted, the interpreter will set the type according to the type of variable it was defined with.

let name: string = "John";
let age: number = 25;
let hobbies: string[] = ["Basketball", "Hockey"];

let stringOrNumber = "this is a string!";
console.log(typeof stringOrNumber);  // string

TypeScript has a very strong typing system. One of the more useful features of it is that it allows you to define a variable to hold a specific range of types.

For example, to create a variable that can hold either null or a number, use the following notation:

let numberOrNull: number | null;

// these assignments will work
numberOrNull = 3;
numberOrNull = null;

// this is not allowed in TypeScript
numberOrNull = "invalid assignment";

When declaring variables, TypeScript uses let and const keywords from modern JavaScript:

• let: Declares a block-scoped variable, optionally initializing it to a value. let variables can be reassigned.
• const: Declares a block-scoped constant. Once assigned, const variables cannot be reassigned.

Declaring Variables

Using let:

When you use let, you're telling TypeScript that the variable may change its value over time. For example:

let age: number = 25;
age = 26; // This is allowed with `let`.

Using const:

With const, the variable must be initialized at the time of declaration, and it cannot be reassigned later. This is useful for values that should not change throughout the application.

const pi: number = 3.14;
pi = 3.15; // This would be an error because `pi` is a constant.

Types

TypeScript is statically typed. This means that the type of a variable is known at compile time. This is different from JavaScript, where types are understood dynamically at runtime.

Basic Types

Here are some basic types in TypeScript:

Number: All numbers in TypeScript are floating-point values. These can be integers, decimals, etc.

let decimal: number = 6;
let hex: number = 0xf00d;
let binary: number = 0b1010;
let octal: number = 0o744;

String: Represents a sequence of characters. TypeScript, like JavaScript, uses double quotes (") or single quotes (') to surround string data.

let color: string = "blue";
color = 'red'; // Both single and double quotes are acceptable.

Boolean: The most basic datatype is the simple true/false value.

let isDone: boolean = false;

Any: It can be any type of value. It is useful when you don't want to write a specific type, but its use should be limited to when you really don't know what type there will be.

let notSure: any = 4;
notSure = "maybe a string instead";
notSure = false;

Understanding these basics will help you to declare variables and types effectively in TypeScript, leading to more predictable and error-resistant code.

Exercise

Given the provided code, identify the errors in variable declarations based on TypeScript types and fix them.