Typescript: Suggestion: stricter operators

[evmar]

Currently operators like "+" are defined such that they match their semantics in JS. The below are all allowed by the compiler and produce the shown values, even with --strictNullChecks on.

• 2 + 'a' => "2a"
• null + 'a' => "nulla" (!)
• 2 - null => 2

I propose letting users opt in (maybe via some --strictOperators) to strict operator behavior. Concretely I think this means:

• restrict +, and += to just number and string, e.g. for the former only declare

js function +(a: number, b: number): number; function +(a: string, b: string): string;

• restrict - and -= to just number

(any should continue to work as normal, of course.)

Relevant spec section:
https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/blob/master/doc/spec.md#419-binary-operators

See also "Expression operators" in the strictNullTypes change: https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/pull/7140
and in particular this rationale: https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/pull/7140#issuecomment-186432250

This would fall under of "stricter" TypeScript, https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/274 .

[basarat]

_number + string_ is actually quite common in JavaScript land and will probably not happen as it moves the convenience - type safety slider too much towards safety.

_null + string_ should be disabled as a part of strictNullChecks.

Note:

A number of wat things are disabled in TypeScript e.g. [] + [] (valid JavaScript, produces "") is an error in TypeScript. Similarly "hello" + 1 is allowed (like I mentioned) but "hello" - 1 is an error :rose:

[zpdDG4gta8XKpMCd]

related https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/7746

[myitcv]

@basarat I really struggle when the argument "because that's how Javascript does it" is applied. Particularly in cases like this where I think the cognitive load on the developer is increased by decisions to stick to the Javascript way. Not because it's unclear how + behaves, rather that is creates cognitive dissonance with the rest of the type system:

let s: string;
let n: number;

s = n;            // ERROR: number is not assignable to string
n = s;            // ERROR: string is not assignable to number

let res = s + n;  // OK: really?

I understand that + is defined by the spec to work on combinations of number and string and so has well-defined behaviour, but given the example above I think it's more confusing than useful for it to have been defined in this way (the Javascript way). Particularly when explicit conversion is so simple and more readable.

[mhegazy]

@myitcv how is different from https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/7746?

[myitcv]

@mhegazy because as I understand it, there is no coercion when it comes to +; it's simply specified to operate on various combinations of types.

[mhegazy]

@aleksey-bykov do you agree that this suggestion encompasses the one in #7746?

[zpdDG4gta8XKpMCd]

i agree, thank you for considering

[RyanCavanaugh]

Approved behavior change: under --strictNullChecks it should be an error to use a possibly-null/possibly-undefined operand in a +, -, /, *, |, &, ^, or ** expression. One exception is that string + nullable is still OK since that's very common for producing debugging strings.

[evmar]

Thanks for looking at this! That behavior change would be most welcome!

Do you have any thoughts on the other bits of the request (in particular string + number)?

Also, I guess

`${string}${nullable}`

is still legal for debugging purposes even if string + nullable were made illegal.

[RyanCavanaugh]

We don't want the string template syntax to be different from the basic concat rules in terms of type system behavior; one is just sugar for the other and it'd be weird to have different rules.

[TimvdLippe]

I think this is a duplicate of #12795 which was fixed in #13483

[evmar]

The null part, yes. I am still a little disappointed that type checking is basically disabled if the expression involves a string, e.g. this is legal and there's no opting out:

let x = {a: 3};
let y = x + 'a';

[OliverJAsh]

For tslint users, we have https://palantir.github.io/tslint/rules/restrict-plus-operands/

Edit: this won't help for template strings, at least not yet: https://github.com/palantir/tslint/issues/3670

[Kingwl]

seems already fixed