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Typescript VS Elm

Compare Typescript VS Elm and see what are their differences

Typescript logo Typescript

TypeScript allows developers to compile a superset of JavaScript to plain JavaScript on any browser, host, or operating system.

Elm logo Elm

A type inferred, functional reactive language that compiles to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
  • Typescript Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-12
  • Elm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-09-23

We recommend LibHunt Elm for discovery and comparisons of trending Elm projects.

Typescript features and specs

  • Static Typing
    Typescript adds optional static typing to JavaScript, which allows for early error detection and better IntelliSense support.
  • Improved Code Quality
    The type system encourages developers to write more robust and maintainable code by enforcing the definition of types.
  • Enhanced IDE Support
    Most modern IDEs offer better code navigation, autocompletion, and refactoring tools for TypeScript due to its type information.
  • Compatibility
    TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript, meaning existing JavaScript code is valid TypeScript, and it can interoperate with JavaScript libraries.
  • Scalability
    TypeScript’s type system makes it easier to manage and scale large codebases, improving team collaboration.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    A large and growing community provides a wealth of resources, libraries, and tools tailored to TypeScript development.

Possible disadvantages of Typescript

  • Learning Curve
    Developers coming from a JavaScript background may need time to familiarize themselves with TypeScript concepts and syntax.
  • Build Step Requirement
    TypeScript code needs to be compiled to JavaScript, adding a build step to the development workflow.
  • Overhead
    The additional type annotations can lead to more verbose code, which may be seen as unnecessary overhead in smaller projects.
  • Tooling and Configuration
    Setting up TypeScript can sometimes be complex, requiring additional configuration for projects and integrations with various build tools.
  • Slower Iteration Speed
    The compilation process can slightly slow down the development cycle compared to working directly with JavaScript.
  • Strictness
    TypeScript’s strict type checks can sometimes be limiting, requiring workarounds or more complex type definitions.

Elm features and specs

  • Strong Type System
    Elm's type system is designed to catch errors at compile-time, reducing runtime errors and improving code reliability. It emphasizes immutability, making it easier to reason about and maintain code.
  • No Runtime Exceptions
    Elm enforces safety with its type system, ensuring that runtime exceptions are almost impossible. This leads to more robust and predictable applications.
  • Friendly Error Messages
    Elm's compiler provides exceptionally helpful and user-friendly error messages, which make debugging easier and learning the language more approachable.
  • Optimized Performance
    Elm's compiler generates highly optimized JavaScript, resulting in fast and efficient applications. Performance tuning is handled by the compiler, freeing developers from many optimization concerns.
  • Functional Programming
    Elm is purely functional, promoting a clear and declarative coding style. It encourages developers to write more predictable and maintainable code by leveraging functional programming principles.
  • Built-In Architecture
    The Elm Architecture (Model-Update-View) provides a consistent pattern for building applications, which can simplify the development process and improve code organization.
  • Interoperability with JavaScript
    Elm allows you to seamlessly integrate with existing JavaScript code through ports, giving you the flexibility to gradually adopt Elm or work with libraries that are not available in Elm.

Possible disadvantages of Elm

  • Small Ecosystem
    Elm's ecosystem is relatively small compared to more established languages like JavaScript or TypeScript, meaning there are fewer libraries and tools available, which might limit certain functionalities out of the box.
  • Learning Curve
    Elm’s functional programming paradigm and strict type system can be challenging for developers who are not familiar with functional programming, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Limited Developer Community
    The Elm community is smaller compared to other languages, which can make finding support or example projects more difficult. This might also affect the availability of tutorials and learning resources.
  • Interoperability Overhead
    While interoperability with JavaScript is possible through ports, it introduces additional complexity and overhead, making integrated projects more challenging to manage.
  • Slower Release Cycle
    Elm's development and release cycle can be slower compared to other technologies. Updates and new features might take longer to be released, impacting the adoption of cutting-edge practices.
  • Single File Approach
    In Elm, managing large codebases can be problematic due to the lack of support for splitting code into multiple modules or files akin to solutions in other languages, which can make the code less modular and harder to navigate.

Typescript videos

All You Need To Know About TypeScript

More videos:

  • Review - JavaScript or TypeScript?
  • Review - GOTO 2018 • Why I Was Wrong About TypeScript • TJ VanToll

Elm videos

Nightmare on Elm St (series review)

More videos:

  • Review - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - Movie Review
  • Review - A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master - Movie Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Typescript and Elm)
Programming Language
41 41%
59% 59
OOP
44 44%
56% 56
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Generic Programming Language

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Typescript and Elm

Typescript Reviews

Top 5 Most Liked and Hated Programming Languages of 2022
TypeScript is an open-source programming language that is here to beat the shortcomings of JavaScript. Yet another remarkable feature of this programming language that is worth a mention is that the TypeScript code converts to JavaScript. The ability of this language to understand JavaScript and use type inference to give the user great tooling without additional code is...

Elm Reviews

We have no reviews of Elm yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Elm should be more popular than Typescript. It has been mentiond 123 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Typescript mentions (27)

  • Minimalist blog with Zola, AWS CDK, and Tailwind CSS - Part 1
    What are we going to do today? We're going to build a minimalist blog using Zola (built with Rust, btw), AWS CDK, Tailwind CSS, and a tiny bit of Typescript. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Node.js: A brief history of cjs, bundlers, and esm
    Over time, esm became widely adopted by developers thanks to bundlers and languages like TypeScript since they are capable of transforming esm syntax into cjs. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Migrating from Jest to Vitest for your React Application
    Vitest supports ECMAScript modules (ESM), TypeScript out of the box. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • 🎓 Monorepo College Lecture 2: Build Me Up Buttercup
    In this part, we will be initializing the project, getting all of the initial files out of the way and then configure Prettier as well as create the first package of our monorepo which will be a tsconfig package responsible for sharing TypeScript configuration files to the other packages we will create in the future. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • When type can be null or an array
    The owners of TypeScript need to do a better job at documenting language features. I always know that some sort of null/undefined handling is available but can never remember the name of the operators. And when you browse or search typescriptlang.org you cannot even find any docs on null forgiving operators. They spend more time detailing how JSX works than they do the basics of the language. Source: over 2 years ago
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Elm mentions (123)

  • 3 Options to Avoid Side-Effects in Web Dev
    Use languages that don’t have side-effects; Elm for UI, and Roc for API/CLI. - Source: dev.to / 18 days ago
  • Reactivity in Programming
    Reactive programming itself is rarely found in pure form. It is often combined with other paradigms. This is how such mixes as Imperative Reactive Programming, Object-Oriented Reactive Programming and Functional Reactive Programming appeared. The latter is the most popular, and the Elm language is considered one of its main representatives. - Source: dev.to / 26 days ago
  • Tsonnet #13 - Carets, columns, and clues: adding lexing error tracing
    I've drawn inspiration from Elm and the blog post Compiler Errors for Humans -- it is nearly a decade old and still inspiring to read. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • An Ode to TypeScript Enums
    When I see this it makes me want to run for ReasonML/ReScript/Elm/PureScript. Sum types (without payloads on the instances they are effectively enums) should not require a evening filling ceremonial dance event to define. https://reasonml.github.io/ https://rescript-lang.org/ https://elm-lang.org/ https://www.purescript.org/ (any I forgot?) It's nice that TS is a strict super set of JS... But that's about the only... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • TypeScript's Lack of Naming Types and Type Conversion in Angular
    Elm, ReScript, F#, Ocaml, Scala… it’s just normal to name your types, then use them places. In fact, you’ll often create the types _before_ the code, even if you’re not really practicing DDD (Domain Driven Design). Yes, you’ll do many after the fact when doing functions, or you start testing things and decide to change your design, and make new types. Either way, it’s just “the norm”. You then do the other norms... - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Typescript and Elm, you can also consider the following products

JavaScript - Lightweight, interpreted, object-oriented language with first-class functions

Kotlin - Statically typed Programming Language targeting JVM and JavaScript

Elixir - Dynamic, functional language designed for building scalable and maintainable applications

WPMU DEV - WPMU offers WordPress Plugins, WordPress Themes, WordPress Multisite and BuddyPress Plugins and Themes.

F# - F# is a mature, open source, cross-platform, functional-first programming language.

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.