Indicate in the editor that a type is explicitly `any`

[bpasero]

🔍 Search Terms

any marker editor

✅ Viability Checklist

• This wouldn't be a breaking change in existing TypeScript/JavaScript code
• This wouldn't change the runtime behavior of existing JavaScript code
• This could be implemented without emitting different JS based on the types of the expressions
• This isn't a runtime feature (e.g. library functionality, non-ECMAScript syntax with JavaScript output, new syntax sugar for JS, etc.)
• This isn't a request to add a new utility type: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/No-New-Utility-Types
• This feature would agree with the rest of our Design Goals: https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/wiki/TypeScript-Design-Goals

⭐ Suggestion

Types that are explicitly set to any are sometimes hard to distinguish from actually typed variables in the editor. You might be adopting types while still having a lot of any around and then it would be helpful to call any out more explicitly in the editor.

📃 Motivating Example

I am now using the extension https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=danvk.any-xray which does this:

💻 Use Cases

1. What do you want to use this for?

Seeing explicit any types easily so that I can work on adding types.

3. What shortcomings exist with current approaches?

I can disable explicit any by producing errors but that is very aggressive.

5. What workarounds are you using in the meantime?

Hovering over the type.

[RyanCavanaugh]

What workarounds are you using in the meantime? Hovering over the type.

It seems like you're using the extension, which works?

[bpasero]

@RyanCavanaugh yes I do, but there is gaps and I think scalability concerns / hacks in the implementation so I was hoping for an officially TS supported way of getting this information.

I am also not 100% convinced about the presentation, being forced to see a border around the identifier, something more subtle like this "..." we already see in some cases would be nicer: