Build a TypeScript Hello World Application
A minimal TypeScript project that prints a greeting, accepts a name from the command line, includes a test suite using Vitest, and uses a Makefile to drive common tasks. This tutorial covers project setup, TypeScript configuration, argument parsing, unit testing, and build automation. Prerequisites Node.js 20 or later npm 9 or later A Unix-like terminal (macOS, Linux, or WSL on Windows) make installed (pre-installed on macOS and most Linux distributions) Step 1: Set up the project structure Create the file mkdir -p hello-world touch hello-world/.gitignore Add the code: hello-world/.gitignore node_modules/ dist/ .DS_Store *.log tmp/ Detailed breakdown node_modules/ excludes installed dependencies, which are restored with npm install. dist/ excludes compiled TypeScript output generated by the build step. .DS_Store, *.log, and tmp/ cover common OS and temporary artifacts. Step 2: Initialize the project and install dependencies Create the file cd hello-world npm init -y Install TypeScript and the test framework as development dependencies: ...