TypeScript SDK opens up BSV blockchain to more developers

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Developers with TypeScript experience can bring their ideas closer to reality, thanks to BSV’s TypeScript SDK. Released in mid-2024, it was the first in a series of language-specific SDKs for blockchain from the BSV Association.

The BSV Association also invited developers to make their own contributions to BSV’s collection of standardized, open-source code libraries. The TypeScript SDK is part of the Association’s BSV Blockchain Libraries Project, which aims to build and sustain a sophisticated middleware layer within the BSV technology stack.

The BSV Blockchain Libraries Project also contains SDKs for Python and Go (Golang) developers. Another goal is to create a rich pool of talent capable of building useful applications on BSV’s scalable blockchain network. It encourages the adoption of best practices and code standardization at blockchain businesses, free from vendor lock-in, and offers support to programmers looking to make a career in the industry.

“This opens up the possibility of integrating BSV blockchain to more people, lowering the bar by simplifying the developer experience,” said Project Babbage Founding President Ty Everett, whose team helped build the SDK.

“The TypeScript SDK simplifies the process for creating transactions that use custom script templates. Developers can build standardized, composable script templates for contracts and tokens relevant to their use-cases, which can then be made easily accessible and usable, even for less technical users of the library.”

TypeScript’s relationship to JavaScript

TypeScript is often called a “superset” of JavaScript, meaning it includes all JavaScript’s features while adding other useful ones like optional static typing and easier debugging. It can also be transpiled to JavaScript.

It was first released in 2012, the product of internal development at Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), which was looking for custom tools to build large-scale applications without creating overly complicated JavaScript code. It has grown in popularity since then due to its familiarity with JavaScript users, use of JavaScript libraries, more support from existing IDEs like Emacs, Vim, and WebStorm, and use at major companies like Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Airbnb, and Microsoft.

“TypeScript is popular due to its combination of type-safety (adding a layer of protection against developer mistakes), and its backward compatibility with JavaScript. That’s why it has the largest community of developers in the world,” Everett added.

Blockchain opens up new avenues for programmers looking for an opportunity or change in direction. StackOverflow’s 2023 Developer Survey found TypeScript to be one of the most “admired and desired” programming languages, but (along with HTML/CSS and Python) tended to bring only slightly above-average salaries. Their commonness and lower barriers to entry could be the reason for this, they said, meaning that a move into blockchain could be a chance for TypeScript devs to stand out above their peers.

Other Bitcoin tools for TypeScript devs

Blockchain TypeScript developers may also be interested in checking out scryptTS, a domain-specific language (DSL) created by sCrypt for coding Bitcoin smart contracts. sCrypt realized many programmers were deterred from entering the Bitcoin and blockchain world by the learning curves associated with new programming languages and tools, so they wrote scryptTS from the ground up as their “ultimate solution” for TypeScript devs to start work without having to learn any new syntax or get a new IDE. scryptTS can use all existing TypeScript/JavaScript libraries and uses TypeScript/JavaScript’s package manager, npm.

The BSV industry offers blockchain developers (and those interested in becoming blockchain developers) several robust, essential toolkits that make it easier to innovate and bring ideas into the real world. BSV’s speed, low costs, and unbounded scaling capacity can serve any size project, from simple payments to enterprise- and government-tier applications, including asset tokenization and smart contracts.

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