Can anyone recommend a good introduction/book to TypeScript for people who already know some programming (e.g. Java, Python) but have no experience with JavaScript?

The only texts I’ve found so far assume prior JS knowledge (like The TypeScript Handbook https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/intro.html) or seem rather unstructured to me (e.g. dropping a lot of different ways and shortcuts to do things without explaining concepts or making no clear distinction between basics/best practices and advanced use cases/edge cases).

Ideally it would explain core concepts (like functions, types, classes, …) first, with their most common use cases. Later chapter would do deep dives into different topics.

Edit: when I’m talking about TypeScript I’m talking about the whole language, not just the “modifications” it makes to JavaScript.

  • I know it’s not what you want to hear, but you should really learn JS first and then go through the handbook you linked to learn TS. As you’ve noticed, the majority of the resources for TypeScript will assume that you’re already proficient with JS and you’ll have an easier time with the ecosystem if you take that approach.