> ask yourself whether it is worth it to write code that may not represent what actually ends up being executed.

Doesn't this describe every programming language?

When you write C, you are technically not writing machine code.

Even when you write JavaScript, what actually gets executed is V8 bytecode and/or machine code (depending on whether the JIT fires).

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sureglymop 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

That's correct, however I would say there is a small difference in that most of this code still seems just like JavaScript, sometimes it even feels as though it is JavaScript running in the same context when it then gets compiled to run on server/client.

I think the point I'm trying to make is that this can be confusing or even dangerous especially for new developers. It just doesn't hurt to actually look at the Vite plugins transforming it all to understand it instead of making assumptions if we work with it on the daily.

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vlovich123 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah it’s a silly line of reasoning. The transformations of TS -> JS are a lot smaller and simpler than C-> asm / machine code; it’s basically just removing type annotations. Now minification and optimization can make the output a lot more terse, but that can be done for JS too. And it’s not as complicated and detached from the source as an optimizing compiler is.

	▲	sureglymop 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Let's not act like it's the same thing. I'm not strictly talking about just Typescript, I'm saying that if you work with these technologies every day it would be wise to go look at their Vite plugins to see how they transform your code and be sure to understand it. It's nice to have magic but it's nicer to use the magic if we have demystified it first. And I don't know about you, but I occasionally do open compiled ELF files in a hex editor and I certainly did at first when I was learning more. That's a good practice also.