Function Parameter Bivariance
When comparing the types of function parameters, assignment succeeds if either the source parameter is assignable to the target parameter, or vice versa. This is unsound because a caller might end up being given a function that takes a more specialized type, but invokes the function with a less specialized type. In practice, this sort of error is rare, and allowing this enables many common JavaScript patterns. A brief example:
enum EventType { Mouse, Keyboard }
interface Event { timestamp: number; }
interface MouseEvent extends Event { x: number; y: number }
interface KeyEvent extends Event { keyCode: number }
function listenEvent(eventType: EventType, handler: (n: Event) => void) {
/* ... */
}
// Unsound, but useful and common
listenEvent(EventType.Mouse, (e: MouseEvent) => console.log(e.x + "," + e.y));
// Undesirable alternatives in presence of soundness
listenEvent(EventType.Mouse, (e: Event) => console.log((<MouseEvent>e).x + "," + (<MouseEvent>e).y));
listenEvent(EventType.Mouse, <(e: Event) => void>((e: MouseEvent) => console.log(e.x + "," + e.y)));
// Still disallowed (clear error). Type safety enforced for wholly incompatible types
listenEvent(EventType.Mouse, (e: number) => console.log(e));
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