TypeScript Objects as Dictionary types as in C#

Question

I have some JavaScript code that uses objects as dictionaries; for example a \'person\' object will hold a some personal details keyed off the email address.

Answer 1

In addition to using an map-like object, there has been an actual Map object for some time now, which is available in TypeScript when compiling to ES6, or when using a polyfill with the ES6 type-definitions:

let people = new Map();

It supports the same functionality as Object, and more, with a slightly different syntax:

// Adding an item (a key-value pair):
people.set("John", { firstName: "John", lastName: "Doe" });

// Checking for the presence of a key:
people.has("John"); // true

// Retrieving a value by a key:
people.get("John").lastName; // "Doe"

// Deleting an item by a key:
people.delete("John");

This alone has several advantages over using a map-like object, such as:

• Support for non-string based keys, e.g. numbers or objects, neither of which are supported by Object (no, Object does not support numbers, it converts them to strings)
• Less room for errors when not using --noImplicitAny, as a Map always has a key type and a value type, whereas an object might not have an index-signature
• The functionality of adding/removing items (key-value pairs) is optimized for the task, unlike creating properties on an Object

Additionally, a Map object provides a more powerful and elegant API for common tasks, most of which are not available through simple Objects without hacking together helper functions (although some of these require a full ES6 iterator/iterable polyfill for ES5 targets or below):

// Iterate over Map entries:
people.forEach((person, key) => ...);

// Clear the Map:
people.clear();

// Get Map size:
people.size;

// Extract keys into array (in insertion order):
let keys = Array.from(people.keys());

// Extract values into array (in insertion order):
let values = Array.from(people.values());