Microsoft Rolls out TypeScript 2.0 Beta

Yesterday, Microsoft released the first public build of their TypeScript 2.0 Beta for developers to start using and providing feedback.

TypeScript is Microsoft's open source superset of JavaScript that gives developers a familiar environment to work in but when the code is compiled it creates code that will run in any browser, Node.js or JavaScript engines that support ECMAScript 3 or higher.

There are two ways to get the 2.0 beta of TypeScript either through the Node.js command line so it is installed as a package or you can grab the TypeScript 2.0 beta for Visual Studio 2015 just make sure you are already on VS 2015 Update 3 as well.

Some of the features in this new TypeScript Beta include:

You can see the entire summary of what's new in TypeScript 2.0 at the TypeScript Wiki.

According to the TypeScript team, one feature that has been left out of TypeScript 2.0 is async functions support for ES3 and ES5.

"Originally, this was slated for the 2.0 release; however, to reasonably implement async/await, we needed to rewrite TypeScript’s emitter as a series of tree transformations. Doing so, while keeping TypeScript fast, has required a lot of work and attention to detail. While we feel confident in today’s implementation, confidence is no match for thorough testing, and more time is needed for async/await to stabilize. You can expect it in TypeScript 2.1, and if you’d like to track the progress, the pull request is currently open on GitHub."

Microsoft indicates that a stable release candidate for TypeScript 2.0 will be coming out followed by the final version shortly after that but there is no timeframe indicated when those steps are expected.

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.

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