for-in statement

Question

TypeScript docs say nothing about loop like for or for-in. From playing with the language it seems that only any or string variables are supported in for loop.

Why has this decision been made?

Why not use the type information and have strongly-typed iteration variable?

Answer 1

In Typescript 1.5 and later, you can use for..of as opposed to for..in

var numbers = [1, 2, 3];  for (var number of numbers) {     console.log(number); } 

Answer 2

TypeScript isn't giving you a gun to shoot yourself in the foot with.

The iterator variable is a string because it is a string, full stop. Observe:

var obj = {}; obj['0'] = 'quote zero quote'; obj[0.0] = 'zero point zero'; obj['[object Object]'] = 'literal string "[object Object]"'; obj[<any>obj] = 'this obj' obj[<any>undefined] = 'undefined'; obj[<any>"undefined"] = 'the literal string "undefined"';  for(var key in obj) {     console.log('Type: ' + typeof key);     console.log(key + ' => ' + obj[key]); } 

How many key/value pairs are in obj now? 6, more or less? No, 3, and all of the keys are strings:

Type: string 0 => zero point zero Type: string [object Object] => this obj;  Type: string undefined => the literal string "undefined"