microsoft / microsoft/TypeScript

Mapped Type `[Lhs of Rhs]` Syntax for Array and Tuple Types

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In Discussion Suggestion
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Description

Suggestion

🔍 Search Terms

mapped type, of, array, tuple

✅ Viability 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, new syntax sugar for JS, etc.)
  • This feature would agree with the rest of TypeScript's Design Goals.

⭐ Suggestion

A new [Lhs of Rhs] syntax in mapped type to map over values of array and tuple types:

type ResultType = {
    [V of SourceType]: DoSomethingWith<V>
}

Rhs does not need to be a type parameter.
Rhs must extend readonly unknown[] or a type error is raised.

📃 Motivating Example

type Foo = ['hello', 'world']

type Bar = {
    [V of Foo]: V[]
}
// Bar = ['hello'[], 'world'[]]

💻 Use Cases

Currently, to do the same as in motivating example, one might intuitively write:

type Bar = {
    [K in keyof Foo]: Foo[K][]
}

However this is incorrect and is a mistake that's potentially difficult to spot.

Instead one must either introduce a generic intermediate type:

type Transform<T> = {
    [K in keyof T]: T[K][]
}

type Bar = Transform<Foo>

Or use the infer workaround:

type Bar = Foo extends infer T ? {
    [K in keyof T]: T[K][]
} : never

Both workarounds are not immediately obvious to inexperienced developers, less ergonomic, and will silently break when Foo is no longer an array or tuple type without putting extra constraints.

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

Start by comparing the proposed [Lhs of Rhs] examples with the existing keyof mapped-type workaround and its behavior for arrays and tuples. Determine the compiler areas and tests that govern mapped types, then define the accepted syntax, the readonly unknown[] constraint, the resulting tuple types, and the diagnostics for invalid right-hand sides.

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
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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