Fullstack TypeScript. Great for code reuse and productivity.

Stephen Burke

Typescript is a powerful language that can be used to write fullstack applications. This article will explore how to use TypeScript to write both the frontend and backend of an application.

TypeScript is a powerful language that can be used to write fullstack applications. This article will explore how to use TypeScript to write both the frontend and backend of an application.

Introduction to Fullstack TypeScript

You can use TypeScript to write both the frontend and backend of an application. This allows you to use a single language and set of tools to build and maintain your entire application, which can lead to increased productivity and code reusability.

Some of the main benefits of using TypeScript for fullstack development include:

  1. Type Safety: TypeScript provides static type checking, which can help catch errors at compile time and improve the overall robustness of your code.
  2. Code Sharing: By using TypeScript on both the frontend and backend, you can share code between the two layers, reducing duplication and ensuring consistency.
  3. Tooling: TypeScript has a rich ecosystem of tools and libraries that can be used for both frontend and backend development, making it easier to build and maintain fullstack applications.
  4. Developer Experience: TypeScript’s strong type system and modern features can improve the developer experience and make it easier to work with complex codebases.
  5. Performance: TypeScript can help optimize the performance of your application by providing better type annotations and compile-time checks.

Writing the Frontend in TypeScript

When writing the frontend of an application in TypeScript, you can use popular frontend frameworks and libraries such as React or Svelte. These frameworks have first-class support for TypeScript and provide type definitions for their APIs, making it easy to write type-safe frontend code.

Let’s set up a simple greeting interface in TypeScript:

export interface Greeting {
  name: string;
}

In the frontend, you can use TypeScript to define the shape of your components’ props, state, and other data. This provides type safety and helps catch errors early in the development process.

import React from 'react';

// Types
import { Greeting } from './types';

const Greeting: React.FC<Props> = ({ name }) => {
  return <div>Hello, {name}!</div>;
};

In this example, we define a Props type that specifies the shape of the component’s props, and then use it to type the Greeting component. This ensures that the name prop is required and must be a string, providing type safety and improving the developer experience.

Writing the Backend in TypeScript

For the backend of an application, you can use TypeScript to write server-side code using frameworks such as Express. Additionally, you can use TypeScript to interact with databases, define API routes, and handle business logic on the server. Next.js is popular for server-side rendering and can also be written in TypeScript.

Here’s an example of a Next.js API route written in TypeScript that uses the same Greeting interface from the previous example:

import { NextApiRequest, NextApiResponse } from 'next';

// Types
import { Greeting } from './types';

export default (req: NextApiRequest, res: NextApiResponse) => {
  const { name } = req.body as Greeting;
  res.status(200).json({ message: `Hello, ${name}!` });
};

In this example, we define an API route that expects a Greeting object in the request body and responds with a JSON message. TypeScript provides type checking for the request and response objects, ensuring that the name property is present and of the correct type.

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