Typescript support

[mkieblesz]

Do we have any plans supporting Typescript?

┆Issue is synchronized with this Jira Task
┆friendlyId: UNIFFI-204

[mhammond]

No, we don't.

[stan-irl]

@mhammond what would be involved to add typescript/wasm-unknown-unknown support? I've been combing through your documentation and found this PR to add ruby support - are there additional difficulties/gotchas that are obvious, or is it a fairly similar task? Will the same generated scaffolding work for wasm?

I had a look through uniffi-bindgen-gecko-js and it makes enough sense - although I don't understand where the generated cpp code is compiled and how thats related? Maybe this is only a good reference for how to put the generator in an external crate as per #1241?

[mhammond]

@mhammond what would be involved to add typescript/wasm-unknown-unknown support?

Sorry, I've no idea.

I've been combing through your documentation and found this PR to add ruby support - are there additional difficulties/gotchas that are obvious, or is it a fairly similar task?

That's difficult to answer - it's similar in the same way that the effort to add uniffi-bindgen-gecko-js was similar - ie, superficially similar, but significantly different once the difference in environments was taken into account.

Will the same generated scaffolding work for wasm?

Certainly not - new scaffolding will need to be generated.

I had a look through uniffi-bindgen-gecko-js and it makes enough sense - although I don't understand where the generated cpp code is compiled and how thats related?

The generated code is compiled as part of Firefox and it's related because that's how JS code ends up calling in to Rust.

Maybe this is only a good reference for how to put the generator in an external crate as per #1241?

It's a good reference for making things work in an existing complicated system, such as an existing JS engine.

wasm might be a reasonable option for typescript in some environments, although I don't quite understand how the type models would align. Unfortunately, I don't think you will find an easy answer here - you probably need a fairly clear understanding of what any such support would generate and how it would integrate into your target environment. Once you know the what we might be able to help with keeping the how as simple as possible.

[stan-irl]

ok thanks for the quick response. I dont think I have the requisite time/ability to take this on currently however I might in the future