type WindowStates = "open" | "closed" | "minimized";
type LockStates = "locked" | "unlocked";
type PositiveOddNumbersUnderTen = 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9;

interface Backpack<Type> {
  add: (obj: Type) => void;
  get: () => Type;
}
 
// This line is a shortcut to tell TypeScript there is a
// constant called `backpack`, and to not worry about where it came from.
declare const backpack: Backpack<string>;
 
// object is a string, because we declared it above as the variable part of Backpack.
const object = backpack.get();
 
// Since the backpack variable is a string, you can't pass a number to the add function.
backpack.add(23);

Notice the given argument to createSquare is spelled colour instead of color. In plain JavaScript, this sort of thing fails silently.

You could argue that this program is correctly typed, since the width properties are compatible, there’s no color property present, and the extra colour property is insignificant.

However, TypeScript takes the stance that there’s probably a bug in this code. Object literals get special treatment and undergo excess property checking when assigning them to other variables, or passing them as arguments. If an object literal has any properties that the “target type” doesn’t have, you’ll get an error:

interface SquareConfig {
  color?: string;
  width?: number;
}
 
function createSquare(config: SquareConfig): { color: string; area: number } {
  return {
    color: config.color || "red",
    area: config.width ? config.width * config.width : 20,
  };
}
 
let mySquare = createSquare({ colour: "red", width: 100 });