microsoft / microsoft/TypeScript

T.constructor should be of type T

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Description

Given

class Example {
}

The current type of Example.constructor is Function, but I feel that it should be typeof Example instead. The use case for this is as follows:

I'd like to reference the current value of an overridden static property on the current class.

In TypeScript v1.5-beta, doing this requires:

class Example {
    static someProperty = "Hello, world!";

    constructor() {
        // Output overloaded value of someProperty, if it is overloaded.
        console.log(
            (<typeof Example>this.constructor).someProperty
        );
    }
}

class SubExample {
    static someProperty = "Overloaded! Hello world!";

    someMethod() {
        console.log(
            (<typeof SubExample>this.constructor).someProperty
        );
    }
}

After this proposal, the above block could be shortened to:

class Example {
    static someProperty = "Hello, world!";

    constructor() {
        // Output overloaded value of someProperty, if it is overloaded.
        console.log(
            this.constructor.someProperty
        );
    }
}

class SubExample {
    static someProperty = "Overloaded! Hello world!";

    someMethod() {
        console.log(
            this.constructor.someProperty
        );
    }
}

This removes a cast to the current class.

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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

Use the two class examples in the issue as the behavioral starting point, then trace the TypeScript type-checking rules for instance constructors and static members. Done means the proposed this.constructor accesses type-check without the casts shown, while preserving the intended behavior for subclasses.

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
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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