[wpollock]

> Typescript is only a linter...

I never thought of Typescript (TS) that way. I believe TS is a language addition that enabled smarter JavaScript linters; TS is not a linter program per se.

However, TS is more than that now. The extra annotations enable optimizing transpilers and even compilers (to WASM, for instance). This makes TS much more than just a better linter; I think of TS as a better language.

[pjmlp]

Already covered by JSDoc, closure, and Babel before Typescript came to be.

Java IDEs were taking advantage of them for web development workflows, before VSCode came to be.

Also VSCode main architect is one of the Eclipse original architects.