Declaring functions and classes in Typescript - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Declaring functions and classes

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple program to manage a small library. You want to keep track of books and be able to describe them with a function.

🎯 Goal: Create a Book class with properties, a function to describe a book, and print the description.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Book class with title and author properties

Create a function called describeBook that takes a Book object and returns a string description

Create an instance of Book with exact values

Print the description returned by describeBook

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Managing books in a library or bookstore software requires classes to represent books and functions to describe or manipulate them.

💼 Career

Understanding how to declare classes and functions is fundamental for software development jobs, especially when working with object-oriented programming languages like TypeScript.

1

Create the Book class

Create a Book class with a constructor that takes title and author as strings and sets them as public properties.

Typescript

// Your code here

Hint

Use class Book { constructor(public title: string, public author: string) {} } to create the class.

2

Create the describeBook function

Create a function called describeBook that takes a parameter book of type Book and returns a string in the format: "Title: [title], Author: [author]".

Typescript

class Book {
    constructor(public title: string, public author: string) {}
}

// Your code here

Hint

Use a function with a template string to return the description.

3

Create a Book instance

Create a variable called myBook and assign it a new Book instance with title set to "The Great Gatsby" and author set to "F. Scott Fitzgerald".

Typescript

class Book {
    constructor(public title: string, public author: string) {}
}

function describeBook(book: Book): string {
    return `Title: ${book.title}, Author: ${book.author}`;
}

// Your code here

Hint

Use const myBook = new Book("The Great Gatsby", "F. Scott Fitzgerald") to create the instance.

4

Print the book description

Use console.log to print the result of calling describeBook with myBook.

Typescript

class Book {
    constructor(public title: string, public author: string) {}
}

function describeBook(book: Book): string {
    return `Title: ${book.title}, Author: ${book.author}`;
}

const myBook = new Book("The Great Gatsby", "F. Scott Fitzgerald");

// Your code here

Hint

Use console.log(describeBook(myBook)) to print the description.

Practice

1. What is the main purpose of a function in TypeScript?

easy

A. To create a new type of variable

B. To store data without any behavior

C. To perform a specific task and optionally return a result

D. To define a constant value

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand what a function does

   A function is a block of code designed to perform a specific task.

2. Step 2: Recognize the role of return values

   Functions can return results after performing their task, making them reusable.

3. Final Answer:

   To perform a specific task and optionally return a result -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Function purpose = perform task + return result [OK]

Hint: Functions do tasks and can give back results [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing functions with variables
• Thinking functions only store data
• Believing functions cannot return values

2. Which of the following is the correct way to declare a function named greet that takes a string name and returns a string in TypeScript?

easy

A. function greet(name: string): string { return `Hello, ${name}`; }

B. function greet(name) { return 'Hello, ' + name; }

C. function greet(name: string) { console.log('Hello, ' + name); }

D. function greet(): string { return name; }

Solution

1. Step 1: Check function parameter and return types

   function greet(name: string): string { return `Hello, ${name}`; } correctly declares the parameter name as a string and the return type as string.

2. Step 2: Verify function body returns a string

   function greet(name: string): string { return `Hello, ${name}`; } returns a template string greeting the name, matching the return type.

3. Final Answer:

   function greet(name: string): string { return `Hello, ${name}`; } -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Correct parameter and return types = function greet(name: string): string { return `Hello, ${name}`; } [OK]

Hint: Specify parameter and return types explicitly [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Omitting parameter types in TypeScript
• Not returning a value when return type is declared
• Using console.log instead of return

3. What will be the output of the following TypeScript code?

class Person {
  name: string;
  constructor(name: string) {
    this.name = name;
  }
  greet() {
    return `Hi, I am ${this.name}`;
  }
}
const p = new Person('Anna');
console.log(p.greet());

medium

A. Hi, I am Anna

B. Hi, I am undefined

C. Error: Property 'name' does not exist

D. Hi, I am

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand class construction

   The Person class sets this.name to the passed argument 'Anna' in the constructor.

2. Step 2: Analyze the greet method output

   The greet method returns a string including this.name, which is 'Anna'.

3. Final Answer:

   Hi, I am Anna -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Class property set correctly = 'Hi, I am Anna' [OK]

Hint: Constructor sets properties; methods use them [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Forgetting to assign constructor parameter to this.name
• Expecting undefined because of missing this
• Confusing method return with console.log output

4. Identify the error in this TypeScript class declaration:

class Car {
  model: string;
  constructor(model) {
    this.model = model;
  }
  display() {
    console.log('Model: ' + this.model);
  }
}

medium

A. Property 'model' should be private

B. Missing return type for display method

C. Constructor should not have parameters

D. Missing type annotation for constructor parameter 'model'

Solution

1. Step 1: Check constructor parameter types

   In TypeScript, constructor parameters should have type annotations; here, model lacks a type.

2. Step 2: Verify other parts

   The display method does not require a return type annotation since it returns void implicitly.

3. Final Answer:

   Missing type annotation for constructor parameter 'model' -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Constructor parameters need types = Missing type annotation for constructor parameter 'model' [OK]

Hint: Always type constructor parameters in TypeScript [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Omitting parameter types in constructors
• Thinking methods must always declare return types
• Assuming properties must be private by default

5. You want to create a TypeScript class Calculator with a method add that takes two numbers and returns their sum. Which code correctly implements this with proper types and usage?

hard

A. class Calculator {
add(a, b) {
return a + b;
}
}
const calc = Calculator();
console.log(calc.add(5, 3));

B. class Calculator {
add(a: number, b: number): number {
return a + b;
}
}
const calc = new Calculator();
console.log(calc.add(5, 3));

C. class Calculator {
add(a: number, b: number) {
console.log(a + b);
}
}
const calc = new Calculator();
calc.add(5, 3);

D. class Calculator {
add(a: number, b: number): number {
return a + b;
}
}
const calc = new Calculator();
console.log(calc.add('5', '3'));

Solution

1. Step 1: Check method declaration and types

   class Calculator { add(a: number, b: number): number { return a + b; } } const calc = new Calculator(); console.log(calc.add(5, 3)); declares add with parameters typed as numbers and return type number, which is correct.

2. Step 2: Verify object creation and method call

   class Calculator { add(a: number, b: number): number { return a + b; } } const calc = new Calculator(); console.log(calc.add(5, 3)); creates an instance with new Calculator() and calls add(5, 3), which returns 8.

3. Final Answer:

   Correct class with typed method and proper usage -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Typed method + new instance + correct call = class Calculator { add(a: number, b: number): number { return a + b; } } const calc = new Calculator(); console.log(calc.add(5, 3)); [OK]

Hint: Use 'new' to create class instances and type parameters [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Calling class without 'new'
• Omitting parameter types
• Passing wrong argument types (like strings instead of numbers)