microsoft / microsoft/TypeScript

Poor type inference for `reduce`

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Domain: lib.d.ts Needs Proposal Suggestion
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Description

TypeScript Version: 3.0.0-dev.20180705

Code

function toStrings(arr: ReadonlyArray<object>): string[] {
	return arr.reduce((acc, obj) => {
		acc.push(obj.toString());
		return acc;
	}, [] as string[]);
}

Expected behavior:

No error.

Actual behavior:

src/a.ts:2:2 - error TS2322: Type 'object' is not assignable to type 'string[]'.
  Property 'length' is missing in type '{}'.

2  return arr.reduce((acc, obj) => {
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3  	acc.push(obj.toString());
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4  	return acc;
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5  }, [] as string[]);
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

src/a.ts:3:7 - error TS2339: Property 'push' does not exist on type 'object'.

3  	acc.push(obj.toString());

No error if arr is ReadonlyArray<number> or some other non-object type.
No error if I explicitly specify arr.reduce<string[]>.
No error if I remove the first two overloads to reduce, which are non-generic.

Contributor guide

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First steps

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  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the reported TypeScript 3.0 behavior with the provided toStrings example, then inspect how the non-generic reduce overloads are selected for ReadonlyArray. Compare the result with ReadonlyArray, an explicit string[] type argument, and the overloads removed. Done means the original example reports no error without regressing those comparisons.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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