Use array shorthand syntax

[dannyskoog]

🚀 feature request

Relevant Package

All

Description

Typescript offers 2 array syntax:

Shorthand: T[] (read only variant readonly T[])
Generic: Array<T> (read only variant ReadonlyArray<T>)

Currently we're using both, although the shorthand has a HUGE majority in the code-base. And since I'm a big fan of unification it would be preferable to settle for just one of them - specifically for the shorthand one IMHO.

Shorthand pros:

• It's by far the most used syntax (of the two) throughout the code-base
• It's shorter to write
• It's similar to many other programming languages' syntax
• It doesn't change type when made read only (by utilizing Typescript's readonly keyword)

Describe the solution you'd like

Add TS lint rules that enforce usage of the shorthand:

"array-type": [
  true,
  "array"
],
"ban-types": [
  true,
  [
    "ReadonlyArray<.+>",
    "Use 'readonly T[]' instead."
  ]
],

Describe alternatives you've considered

Keep using both

[santoshyadavdev]

For adding rules , you can add this feature request in https://github.com/mgechev/codelyzer

[dannyskoog]

@santoshyadav198613 this issue is for Angular's internal source code, not external consumers' ones

[MrJithil]

Hi @dannyskoog ,
This is not the feature provided by Angular. The TypeScript providing both the ways to declare the array.

To unifying these, please consider to raise a feature request in TypeScript.

@mhevery, Please consider closing the issue, if the above answer sounds relevant.

^{Disclaimer : in my perspectives, it is good to have multiple ways to declare an array}

[dannyskoog]

@MrJithil thanks. And I’m very well aware of everything you’re saying.

The purpose of this issue is to discuss whether we are interested in unifying the array syntax throughout the Angular codebase or not.

And the feature issue template was just the most suitable one out of all available templates :)

Given that, I still think it brings value to keep this one open a little longer in order for people to get the chance to chip in.

[dannyskoog]

@mhevery Given the low activity of this issue I believe it's reasonable to close it. What do you think?

[angular-robot]

Just a heads up that we kicked off a community voting process for your feature request. There are 20 days until the voting process ends.

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[angular-robot]

Thank you for submitting your feature request! Looks like during the polling process it didn't collect a sufficient number of votes to move to the next stage.

We want to keep Angular rich and ergonomic and at the same time be mindful about its scope and learning journey. If you think your request could live outside Angular's scope, we'd encourage you to collaborate with the community on publishing it as an open source package.

You can find more details about the feature request process in our documentation.

[petebacondarwin]

Closing as this request is just to change the typings of the internal code base for Angular - it has no impact on external application developers - and there is not much value in constraining this way of defining arrays.

[angular-automatic-lock-bot]

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Please file a new issue if you are encountering a similar or related problem.

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