If you're targeting non-browser environments like node.js this will be possible because you will be able to pass references to your module's global members, such as Array
, to other modules. Those other modules can then extend the passed in object and/or its prototype with extra functionality which will be only accessible by the calling module. Other modules would have to do the same in order to get these extensions; therefore, conflicts are minimized since imports are explicit.
However, in browser environments this is not the case since there is only one window
object and any changes to its members are available everywhere. As soon as any of your modules extended Array
those extensions would be available to all other modules -- increasing the possibility for conflicts and making the code harder to reason about.
With that said, there are patterns in JS, and therefore TypeScript, which should accomplish what you want. One such pattern is the 'mixin' pattern which allows you to add on extra functionality on an object instance basis. You could separate re-usable code into mixin modules which could then be applied to an object when needed, or even automatically in constructors. Take a look at this for a decent overview and implementation examples: http://javascriptweblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/a-fresh-look-at-javascript-mixins/