Proposal: Overload Function.bind for when no argArray is provided.

Background

Currently the Function.bind type definition defines only one signature:

bind(this: Function, thisArg: any, ...argArray: any[]): any;

This destroys typing information on the bound function. Given difficulties in generating a new type for the bound function (the number of arguments has changed) this makes sense. However, it's very common to bind functions without using the argArray argument to bind. In this case a better solution can be made.

Proposal

I propose that bind be overloaded with a second signature:

bind<T extends Function>(this: T, thisArg: any): T;
bind(this: Function, thisArg: any, ...argArray: any[]): any;

Example

To use a real world example on how this improves TypeScript I'll pull something from a personal project.

Types used:

type SocketMsg = Guess | StateMsg;
type ChannelCallback<T> = (payload: T, ref: Ref, joinRef: Ref) => any;

export class Channel<T> {
  // ...
  on(event: ChannelEvent, callback: ChannelCallback<T>): void;
  // ...
}

export default class GuessView extends Component<GuessProps, GuessState> {
  channel: Channel<SocketMsg>;

  connectSocket() {
    ...
    this.channel.on("guess", this.gameGuess.bind(this));
  }

  gameGuess(guess: Guess) {
    let newState = Object.assign({}, this.state);
    newState.guesses.push(guess);
    this.setState(newState);
  }
}

Under the current bind signature a change to gameGuess such that it accepts a different type would produce no error:

  connectSocket() {
    ...
    this.channel.on("guess", this.gameGuess.bind(this)); // Now being provided the wrong type of function
  }
  gameGuess(guess: number) {
  // ...

But with bind utilizing a special definition for the case of only using the thisArg argument - the above example would produce an error.

Argument of type '(guess: number) => void' is not assignable to parameter of type 'ChannelCallback'. Types of parameters 'guess' and 'payload' are incompatible. Type 'SocketMsg' is not assignable to type 'number'. Type 'Guess' is not assignable to type 'number'.

Start by locating the Function.bind type definition and the tests covering its type behavior. Add the proposed overload for calls that provide only thisArg, while preserving the existing variadic signature, then verify that the example rejects an incompatible callback type and that existing bind cases still pass.