./orta --tsc

This is a great description! I was wondering why we needed new syntax since importing types always worked they way I expected (I don't use babel). The `var foo: import('foo')` syntax from 2.9 should avoid emitting code, right?

It would also yeah (I use that a bunch in the TS website) https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript-Website/blob/v2/packages/playground/src/exporter.ts#L1-L5 …

The annoying nit I have here is that Babel often *can* figure this out, but not when the declaration is exported. With export { Foo } from "other-module" it's not clear whether that code should be erased or not.

I see, so the transitive re-export behavior is what makes it extra tricky. Is that because it’s a double lookup? I’m not sure how babel can tell value vs types without reading the other files

So this is the same as Flow’s syntax right? Are there any plans to have a tsconfig.json flag that can enforce one syntax for importing types?

is there any roadmap for the typescript compiler as a whole? is it going to converge into babel and turn into just a type checker like flow? or is there continued investment? wondering if my efforts in the transformer space atm might be abandonware in a few years hehe

it's not going away, roadmap is on the wiki