If you open up a javascript console and type typeof(null)
along with typeof(undefined)
, you'll see that TypeScript treats them the same way since ultimately TypeScript code is converted to javascript.
In TypeScript, null
is considered a type of object
, while undefined
is classified as a type of undefined
itself.
undefined
is the value automatically assigned to any declared variable in javascript that has not been given a value. On the other hand, null
is purposely assigned as a value, but it's also possible to assign a variable to undefined
intentionally.
The code snippet you provided would likely result in errors when compiled by most configurations of the TypeScript compiler, depending on the settings in the tsconfig.json file. To declare a variable in TypeScript of type T
that can be either null
or undefined
, where T
represents another type (such as boolean
or string
), the variable must be defined accordingly using syntax like T|null
or T|undefined
. For example:
let isNew1: boolean = null; // results in an error
let isNew2: boolean|null = null; // no issues here
let isNew3: boolean|null; // error - cannot assign undefined
let myName1: string = undefined; // leads to an error
let myName2: string|undefined = undefined; // works fine
let myName3: string|undefined; // valid declaration
Additionally, you have the option to allow for undefined values in types and interfaces in TypeScript by utilizing the ?
symbol (e.g., myVariable?: string
).