Apr 8, 2017

TypeScript Release Schedule Changes

In the past Microsoft's TypeScript team published releases as they saw fit. Now that has all changed as the TypeScript team announces going forward those releases will come on a much more predictable and disciplined schedule. This includes "full feature releases every two months" and at least "one TypeScript update to npm every month."

This is likely a welcome change for some developers, particularly those using Visual Studio Code as the releases will occur about one week before VS Code's own release schedule. However, this has already caused some headaches for others as releases may fall behind official releases for Visual Studio 2017 but is likely less pronounced of an issue given the emphasis on systems programming in Visual Studio 2017 as opposed to the emphasis on scripting and front-end technologies in VS Code. Furthermore, they are working on a fix to allow Visual Studio 2017 programmers to use TypeScript releases as they become available.

This release schedule change follows the release of 2.2 in late February, which included a number of fixes pertaining to tooling (in particular aids for code editors), the release of a new type named "object" and improved support for string manipulations and classes.

TypeScript continues as a welcome addition to the repertoire of many developers and the future only looks brighter with a number of useful updates coming with the release of 2.3; this includes a finished implementation of generic type variables which was a long-term goal.

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