Lots of folks mentioning VSCode as the alternate to VS, but it is very much not that. VS is an IDE, VSCode is a text editor that just has a big plugin community. Do not expect a low learning curve. The VS alternative that’s an actual IDE, and does have a low learning curve, is JetBrains Rider. Unfortunately it is neither F nor OSS.

What’s even the argument for dropping 32-bit support? Just developer experience?

No question, this is what the moneymen want. They see programmers (all human employees, really) as a liability.

Then the second part of my statement applies.

Not to short-circuit the joke, but in this case, it’s because the valid JavaScript version is…

let a

…and one of TypeScript’s main design goals is to be a superset of JavaScript, that only adds syntax, and doesn’t re-write it.

Beyond that, it’s probably a case of some new language just using what the designer is familiar with.