Typescript compilation in Visual Studio vs WebStorm. How to use Node.js to compile?

Question

I recently abandoned using Visual Studio to try WebStorm as an IDE for developing a front-end AngularJS / Typescript application.

I noticed that Typescript is slower and less integrated into WebStorm.

Can someone tell me if two IDEs compile Typescript in the same way? I believe WebStorm does this through Node.js and I wonder if this can explain that WebStorm is feeling a little slower and gives less intellisense.

Comments from users who have used both IDEs will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I believe that Visual Studio uses Chakra (IE engine), which I saw several times on Codeplex and GitHub.

The Typescript team also creates the VS plugin, so I suspect they just have more resources available, as well as the built-in Typescript superlink in VS, and since they created it, they know a lot about its use.

They both use the same language, so WebStorm should be able to use the same experience.

edit: You see the chakra here: https://github.com/Microsoft/TypeScript/pull/995

Answer 2

Visual Studio Typescript IntelliSense runs on Roslyn, runs on .NET, so this is not a normal Typescript language service. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/typescript/archive/2014/11/12/announcing-typescript-1-3.aspx

In WebStorm, I find Typescript code support supported by the same code support technique that is used in all of their IDEs. So, again, not in the Typescript language service. It uses node to compile TypeScript, as evidenced by the settings dialog, where it asks for the path to your node binary.

I'm not sure what you specifically asked about how IDEs handle IntelliSense, how they compile .ts to .js, or both.