> The JS-based codebase will continue development into the 6.x series, and TypeScript 6.0 will introduce some deprecations and breaking changes to align with the upcoming native codebase.
> While some projects may be able to switch to TypeScript 7 upon release, others may depend on certain API features, legacy configurations, or other constraints that necessitate using TypeScript 6. Recognizing TypeScript’s critical role in the JS development ecosystem, we’ll still be maintaining the JS codebase in the 6.x line until TypeScript 7+ reaches sufficient maturity and adoption.
It sounds like the Python 2 -> 3 migration, or the .Net Framework 4 -> .Net 5 (.Net Core) migration.
I'm still in a multi-year project to upgrade past .Net Framework 4; so I can certainly empathize with anyone who gets stuck on TS 6 for an extended period of time.
Better a language that deprecates and breaks things at regular intervals of time compared to a language that has Forever Backward Compatibility like C++ and evolves into a mutated, tentacled monster that strangles developers who are trying to maintain a project.
I lived and worked through the Python 2->3 fiasco, working on a Python library that had to run on both versions. I have since abandoned the language. Python3 was both slower and and not backwards compatible whereas TSC 7 is 10x faster and uses half the memory. I'm not worried.
This is mostly about the tooling and ecosystem, they want to stop things from depending on the internal workings of the compiler. If you just want to write and compile TS you'll be fine, it does not mean breaking changes to actual TypeScript grammar.
Yeah, this is not ideal. I’m hoping that the breaking changes don’t affect the code at my work, since we also had to spend multiple years on a major .NET Core transition. I want the faster compiles right away, not in a few years.
> The JS-based codebase will continue development into the 6.x series, and TypeScript 6.0 will introduce some deprecations and breaking changes to align with the upcoming native codebase.
> While some projects may be able to switch to TypeScript 7 upon release, others may depend on certain API features, legacy configurations, or other constraints that necessitate using TypeScript 6. Recognizing TypeScript’s critical role in the JS development ecosystem, we’ll still be maintaining the JS codebase in the 6.x line until TypeScript 7+ reaches sufficient maturity and adoption.
It sounds like the Python 2 -> 3 migration, or the .Net Framework 4 -> .Net 5 (.Net Core) migration.
I'm still in a multi-year project to upgrade past .Net Framework 4; so I can certainly empathize with anyone who gets stuck on TS 6 for an extended period of time.