microsoft / microsoft/TypeScript

Generic Constraint using implements or equals

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Description

When working with types and one wants to capture generic typescript types and runtime information in one go, without using experimental decorators, which also has limitations when its comes to type categorization upfront, as it would require extract routines to evaluate if interface uses valid types subset of types when the interface is defined.

One doesn't want to evaluate at the level of string literals here, but at the level of primitive types.

What I would like to propose is a new key call it equal, which would check that the type equals or maybe implements, which perform the same logic as extends, but would not evaluate string | boolean
primitives at literal level or deconstructed level of that type, basically stop there. Almost like named typing in a way.

Search Terms

generic type implements instead of extends
generic implements

Suggestion

// This depends on who you read this statement, T equals boolean or string explicity
// T implements boolean | string pars

interface TSType<T equals boolean | string | number | null | undefined | readonly>
{
__tsType : T
}

type rr = TSType<true> // invalid type
type rr = TSType<false> // invalid type
type rr = TSType<'sdf'> // invalid type
type rr = TSType<234> // invalid type
type rr = TSType<234 | string> // invalid type
type rr = TSType<'sdf' | string> // invalid type
type rr = TSType<true | boolean> // invalid type




type rr = TSType<boolean> // valid types
type rr = TSType<string> // valid types
type rr = TSType<number> // valid types
type rr = TSType<undefined> // valid types
type rr = TSType<null> // valid types
type rr = TSType<readonly> // valid types
type rr = TSType<number | readonly> // valid types
type rr = TSType<string | number | readonly | undefined> // valid types

Extract routine for ensuring decorators class for type mixing , conform to specific set of constraints

This method, however, like all others for nested records and arrays, makes it a whole lot more complicate to evaluate the typings. I am actually think of proposing a symbol type, which has identifiers, for structure, which allows simpler ability to iterator nested record structures..

MeetsConstraints<T extends Record<string, any>, 
TNullable extends null | never,
TRequired extends undefined | never,
TReadonly extends readonly | never
//Default, but there is no mechanism for this, yet as not standard, would have use annotation type interrogation, if implemented in the future.
 = {
 [K in keyof T] T[K] implement TNullable | TRequired | TReadonly ? 'T' : never
}[keyof T]

// typically this would be extends constraint for some other class or generic
type valid = MeetsConstraints<...> extends 'T' ? 'good' : TError('bad')

Checklist

My suggestion meets these guidelines:

  • This wouldn't be a breaking change in existing TypeScript/JavaScript code
  • This wouldn't change the runtime behavior of existing JavaScript code
  • This could be implemented without emitting different JS based on the types of the expressions
  • This isn't a runtime feature (e.g. library functionality, non-ECMAScript syntax with JavaScript output, etc.)
  • This feature would agree with the rest of TypeScript's Design Goals.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  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

No source files, tests, or entry points are named. Start by clarifying whether equals or implements is intended as a new generic constraint and define its behavior for primitive and literal unions, comparing it with existing extends constraints. Done means a settled specification and corresponding compiler and test plan.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
15/100

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