Review the project setup experience

[DanielRosenwasser]

Today, tsc --init creates a big-ol' file that is super intimidating. We try to provide comments and blocks of sections to give people a clear separation of config concerns. We also provide a link to https://aka.ms/tsconfig.json.

We also have a belief that most people don't even use tsc --init.

That said, there are problems, and tsc --init doesn't make it totally clear what the "best practices" are for starting a project. Things that are missing:

• Project layout guidance (e.g. src, tsconfig naming)
• "well known"/"blessed" flags as opposed to just ONE BIG PAGE of ALL THE FLAGS 😨
• Easy way to find the information regardless of whether a user used tsc --init

In short:

• Docs for tsconfig.json "getting started"
• Link to that in generated tsconfig.json
• Re-evaluate generated tsconfig content.

[orta]

Possible spaces for exploration:

• Make it interactive and/or rely on @tsconfig/bases for examples to work from
• A different way to show groups of common tsconfig options (e.g. "these are all the things most node projects use") in the reference
• Better categorization of tsconfig opts

[RyanCavanaugh]

Just throwing out what I myself would want to happen, tsc --init should give me (in order):

• All of the "you need to tell us" settings written out at the top (target, module, etc)
• Opinionated defaults where necessary to prevent undesirable behavior (e.g. `outDir: "./lib" to prevent in-placing .js files)
• All of our "recommended" options in a block with "We recommend these settings for new projects"
• The most-commonly-changed settings (lint-ish rules, etc) after that

[AlCalzone]

* Make it interactive

My first thought, too. You could ask the user...
...what runtime he is targeting (Browser w/ or w/o React, Node.js)
...which minimum version (e.g. to set up target/lib)
...whether potential undefined values should be flagged (to nudge users towards the goodness that is hidden behind the somewhat intimidating name --strict)
...etc

[SagnikPradhan]

Making a minimal interactive command similar to that of eslint can be an interesting option too.

[softwareCobbler]

I figure you have telemetry for this; but one more datapoint for you: I use tsc --init all the time and just "uncomment out" all the strict options. Max safety, I want all the red squigglies and inference you can muster.

[renanmontebelo]

I like the fact that tsc --init generates a file with all flags explicitly listed, even if most are commented out. However, I was surprised today when I noticed the commented out flags do not necessarily reflect default values. For instance, the following line is generated

// "sourceMap": true, /* Generates corresponding '.map' file. */

when the actual default value is false. My suggestion is that these values should reflect default values and hence be fully self-documented (no need to visit a webpage to check what the default values are).

[Jack-Works]

Another problem is that when upgrading, there isn't a "tsc --upgrade" command to add new flags into the tsconfig.json