The new language will try to get JavaScript development to scale

Oct 2, 2012 07:43 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has just released a new programming language called TypeScript and designed to ease the process of creating client-side JavaScript for Windows, Internet Explorer and other browsers or operating systems.

The new language is a superset of JavaScript and each code starts and ends with JavaScript. It is, however, developed to write and maintain large-scale applications and combines type checking and static analysis, explicit interfaces, and best practices into a single language and compiler, Soma Somasegar, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Developer Division, said in a blog post.

“By building on JavaScript, TypeScript keeps you close to the runtime you’re targeting while adding only the syntactic sugar necessary to support large applications and large teams. Importantly, TypeScript enables great tooling experiences for JavaScript development, like those we've built for .NET and C++ and continue to innovate on with projects like Roslyn,” Somasegar wrote.

The company has also released an early preview of the new programming language, as well as an online playground for those interested to find more about it.

Basically, this is just another Microsoft attempt to bring developers closer to the company, as the Redmond-based technology giant continuously calls for developers to create their apps for Windows 8.

The new operating system plays a key role in Microsoft’s long-term strategy and also comprises the brand new Windows Store that allows developers to bring their very own apps at one-click distance from Windows users.

“At the same time, we’re planning for future major releases of our tools. Along with projects like “Roslyn”, TypeScript is one foray into making programming languages and tooling even more productive, and like "Roslyn", TypeScript is also an early preview, Somasegar concluded.