What's the big difference between `unsafe` and `as` regarding explicit labelling? Both are opt-in and explicit. As the user of a function, you don't see either from the outside. If you don't like `as`, it's fine to use a linter to disallow it.
The difference is that in everyday Typescript you end up using `as`, so it's presence is not a blaring alarm.
Grepping a real world codebase that would not be `unsafe` in Rust:
event as CustomEvent<T>
const errorEvent = event as ErrorEvent;
const element = getByRole("textbox");
expect(element).toBeInstanceOf(HTMLInputElement);
const input = element as HTMLInputElement;
const element = parent.firstElementChild as HTMLElement;
type ItemMap = Map<Item["id"], Item>;
...
new Map() as ItemMap
const clusterSource = this.map.getSource(sourceName) as GeoJSONSource;
[K in keyof T as T[K] extends Fn ? K : never]: T[K];
target[type] as unknown as Fn<...
export const Foo = [1,2,3] as const;
Many, if not most, of these occurrences can be made safe. It's very rare that I need `as`, and even more rare that I can't actually check the relevant properties at runtime to ensure the code path is valid.
It's on you to ensure that you don't misuse `as`. If I could choose between current TS, and a "safer" one that's less expressive in complex cases, I'd choose the current one any day of the week.
"Typescript can be made safe" is the "C++ has a subset that is good" argument. Meh.
Almost every language has some way to do stupid things. Say you're working in C# - you can forcefully cast almost anything to almost anything else, just like in TS. So according to you, C# is just as bad as TS in this respect, right?
You can only do this with `unsafe { }` or `Unsafe.As/.BitCast`. Casts from/to `object` are type-safe even though may not be very user-friendly or good use of the type system in general.
If that's a thing commonly needed for basic operations like letting your event handler actually access the event details, then very much yes.
Sane languages have a downcast mechanism that doesn't pretend it succeeds every time.
Weird, I don't need to do that.
Also weird that Typescript has exactly the mechanism you're talking about. Why are you acting like it doesn't?