(De)coding conventions

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“You can have programs that type check and still throw type errors, while programs that TypeScript finds fault with might not throw type errors. Although these situations are edge cases and relatively rare, they do occur. Generally, when confronted with such caveats, the typical response is, ‘Well, it’s sufficient for my use case.’ While this is a valid decision to make, it is important to bear in mind that this remains a potential disadvantage to consider.”

That’s a quote from prolific open source maintainer, Jordan Harband, on July’s episode of The ReadME Podcast. Jordan believes that adding type checking, like TypeScript, introduces complexity to your code base, placing additional demands on developers to comprehend and maintain the code. When errors are unclear or inaccurate, it can consume a significant amount of time and, crucially, mental energy to stop what you were doing, diagnose the issue, and then proceed.

Of course, TypeScript’s growth in popularity might beg to disagree.

The ReadME Podcast’s July episode examines the ebbing tides of programming paradigms and how the development community responds to these cycles. GitHub Senior Editor, Mike Melanson, joins the podcast to discuss his newly published featured story titled, “TypeScript and the dawn of gradual types,” outlining the evolution of the JavaScript ecosystem, the rise of TypeScript, and the shift toward gradual typing. Later, we hear from Aaron Gustafson, Principal Accessibility Innovation Strategist at Microsoft, as he discusses the potential for AI to revolutionize internet accessibility and highlights initiatives that are already in place to guide this progress.

We also hear from Kingsley Mkpandiok, Open Source Design Advocate and UX Designer, as he answers a user-submitted question on encouraging non-code contributions. Kingsley believes that inclusivity in the open source ecosystem means valuing all skills. No matter how small or unrelated your abilities may seem, they can still significantly contribute to improving a project.

Catch all these stories and more in this month’s episode of The ReadME Podcast.

Next month, we’ll be venturing outside the hype cycle to highlight a programming community that’s making the most of a vanguard technology. Make sure to subscribe to The ReadME Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform to stay up to date!