TypeScript: Generics type definition for TypedArray

Question

I am trying to write a function that expands / shrinks TypedArray by taking an arbitrary TypedArray as an input and returns a new same-typed TypedArray with a different size and copy original elements into it.

For example, when you pass, new Uint32Array([1,2,3]) with new size of 5, it will return new Uint32Array([1,2,3,0,0]).

export const resize = <T>(
    source: ArrayLike<T>, newSize: number,
): ArrayLike<T> => {
    if (!source.length) { return new source.constructor(newSize); }
    newSize = typeof newSize === "number" ? newSize : source.length;
    if (newSize >= source.length) {
        const buf = new ArrayBuffer(newSize * source.BYTES_PER_ELEMENT);
        const arr = new source.constructor(buf);
        arr.set(source);
        return arr;
    }
    return source.slice(0, newSize);
};

While the code works as expected, TSC is complaining that 1) ArrayType does not have BYTES_PER_ELEMENT and slice, and 2) Cannot use 'new' with an expression whose type lacks a call or construct signature for the statement new source.constructor().

Is there a way to specify type interfaces for such function that TSC understands my intention?

For 1), I understand ArrayLike does not have interface defined for TypedArray but individual typed array does not seem to inherit from a common class... For instance, instead of using generics, I can use const expand = (source: <Uint32Array|Uint16Array|...>): <Uint32Array|Uint16Array|...> => {}. But it loses context of returning type being same type of the source array.

And for 2) I am clueless on how to tackle this error. It seems reasonable for TSC to complain that source's constructor is lacking type information. But if I can pass proper type for 1), I presume 2) will be disappeared too.

ref) https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/TypedArray

Answer 1

This isn't beautitiful, but it works:

type TypedArray = ArrayLike<any> & {
    BYTES_PER_ELEMENT: number;
    set(array: ArrayLike<number>, offset?: number): void;
    slice(start?: number, end?: number): TypedArray;
};
type TypedArrayConstructor<T> = {
    new (): T;
    new (size: number): T;
    new (buffer: ArrayBuffer): T;
    BYTES_PER_ELEMENT: number;
}

export const resize = <T extends TypedArray>(source: T, newSize: number): T => {
    if (!source.length) {
        return new (source.constructor as TypedArrayConstructor<T>)();
    }

    newSize = typeof newSize === "number" ? newSize : source.length;

    if (newSize >= source.length) {
        const buf = new ArrayBuffer(newSize * source.BYTES_PER_ELEMENT);
        const arr = new (source.constructor as TypedArrayConstructor<T>)(buf);
        arr.set(source);
        return arr;
    }
    return source.slice(0, newSize) as T;
};

(code in playground)

Answer 2

I grabbed @Nitzan's answer and massaged it until all the type-casts was gone, BUT unfortunately this solution suffers from the untyped constructor property issue here, and there seem to be no workaround without type-casts. I post the code anyway for future reference.

Warning: this code does not compile as of 2017/05/16.

interface GenericTypedArray<T> extends ArrayLike<number> {
    BYTES_PER_ELEMENT: number;
    set(array: ArrayLike<number>, offset?: number): void;
    slice(start?: number, end?: number): T;
    constructor: GenericTypedArrayConstructor<T>;
}

interface GenericTypedArrayConstructor<T> {
    new (): T;
    new (buffer: ArrayBuffer): T;
}

export function resize<T extends GenericTypedArray<T>>(source: T, newSize: number): T {
    if (!source.length) {
        return new source.constructor();
    }

    newSize = typeof newSize === "number" ? newSize : source.length;

    if (newSize >= source.length) {
        const buf = new ArrayBuffer(newSize * source.BYTES_PER_ELEMENT);
        const arr = new source.constructor(buf);
        arr.set(source);
        return arr;
    }
    return source.slice(0, newSize);
};

class DummyArray { 
    constructor();
    constructor(buffer: ArrayBuffer);
    constructor(array: ArrayLike<number>);
    constructor(arg?) { }

    // Hack to have a typed constructor property, see https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/issues/3841
    'constructor': typeof DummyArray;
    BYTES_PER_ELEMENT: number;
    length: number;
    [index: number]: number;

    set(array: ArrayLike<number>, offset?: number): void { }
    slice(start?: number, end?: number): this { return this; }

    static BYTES_PER_ELEMENT: number;
}

// How it intended to work
resize(new DummyArray([1, 2, 3]), 5);

// How it fails to typecheck
// Types of property 'constructor' are incompatible.
//   Type 'Function' is not assignable to type 'GenericTypedArrayConstructor<Uint8Array>'.
resize(new Uint8Array([1, 2, 3]), 5); 

Answer 3

You could simply define a generic TypedArray in a declaration file.

1- Create a file named extras.d.ts in your app.

2- Add the following line:

type TypedArray = Int8Array | Uint8Array | Int16Array | Uint16Array | Int32Array | Uint32Array | Uint8ClampedArray | Float32Array | Float64Array;

Then the generic TypedArray type will be available throughout your project. You can use this extras.d.ts file to keep declaring more custom types to use throughout your app.