TypeScript for C# and .NET Core Developers Review

I finished reading Hands-On TypeScript for C# and .NET Core Developers by Francesco Abbruzzese (@f_abbruzzese) for Packt Publishing. As the name states, it is about TypeScript (and JavaScript) and also very much about Angular.

The book is structured like this:

1. First chapter explains what is TypeScript (version 2.8.3), how to install it using NPM or the SDK, how to create your first project, basic configuration options, the type system and syntax; at all times, it relates the TypeScript syntax with the recent ECMAScript versions, of which TypeScript is a superset
2. The second one talks about type declaration, including interfaces, classes, unions, tuples, arrays and so on. It also covers operations over types, such as destructuring and spreads. Finally, it presents functions in TypeScript, how to mimic overloading and have optional arguments
3. Chapter 3 covers DOM manipulation. This is probably something that seasoned web/JavaScript developers are quite familiar with, but, most importantly, it also introduces declaration files
4. In chapter 4 we learn how to make effective use of classes and interfaces, declare visibility levels and modifiers, and how type compatibility works
5. Generics is the topic of chapter 5, how to declare generic types and functions and how to enforce constraints
6. This chapter talks about modules and namespaces, the different ways by which we can resolve and load modules, and also about TypeScript type declarations, which are used to call untyped JavaScript code
7. Here we learn how to integrate the WebPack bundler and minifier with ASP.NET Core and how we can enable debugging of the source code in Visual Studio
8. A very important chapter, here we get an overview on how to write reusable libraries and make them available on NPM. Testing goes together with reusability, so we learn how to use Jasmine to unit test our code
9. In this chapter we learn about symbols, the TypeScript equivalent to decorators in Aspect-Oriented Programming, generator functions and iterators and also promises, used for asynchronous invocations. Not exactly related, but it also covers the fetch API, used for modern AJAX-style interactions
10. Chapter 10 presents the ASP.NET Core project template for Angular using TypeScript, describes the Angular architecture and key concepts
11. This chapter teaches us how to interact with form fields, including validations, how the Angular lifecycle works and how to achieve two-way communication, data binding and piping between components
12. This one presents some advanced Angular features, such as custom attribute and structural directives, which are then used to create animations by doing DOM manipulation
13. Lastly, this chapter explains what is dependency injection and its benefits and how we can leverage it with TypeScript and Angular. It also describes how we can localize messages and use HTTP-related modules for interaction with external services. Most importantly, it presents the basis of Angular routing and navigation, a must-have for any complex application, and ends with an overview of testing for

At the end of each chapter there is a summary which highlights the key aspects that were introduced in it, poses 10 questions, which are answered in the Assessments chapter.

The book covers TypeScript 2.8.3, which is relatively old by now, but given the pace that TypeScript versions come out, it can hardly surprise us. Some new stuff in TS is missing, of course, but I guess this will always happen. It is essentially a book about TypeScript and Angular, but of course also covers Node.js and, obviously, JavaScript itself. .NET Core here is discussed as leverage to deploy and compile client-side code. The book is quite comprehensive and was actually an interesting read and I definitely learnt a lot.

The source code can be found in GitHub here: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Hands-On-TypeScript-for-CSharp-and-.NET-Core-Developers.

If you got interested, please go get if from the Packt Publishing site: https://www.packtpub.com/application-development/hands-typescript-c-and-net-core-developers.