title: Using Typescript with Node.js error
body: <p>I am working on creating a typescript based app with node.js in <strong>Win8</strong> with <strong>Visual Studio Code</strong>.</p>
  
  <p>I have created a Typescript project following the instructions here:<a href="https://basarat.gitbooks.io/typescript/docs/quick/nodejs.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://basarat.gitbooks.io/typescript/docs/quick/nodejs.html</a></p>
  
  <p>However, on doing npm start (where my target is <strong>index.ts</strong>, a syntax error is thrown)</p>
  
  <p>index.ts file:</p>
  
  <p><div class="snippet" data-lang="js" data-hide="false" data-console="true" data-babel="false">
  <div class="snippet-code">
  <pre class="snippet-code-js lang-js prettyprint-override"><code>let Myname: string = "World Lease";</code></pre>
  </div>
  </div>
  </p>
  
  <p>It throws the <strong>"Unexpected token : "</strong> error AND no JS file is created. console.logs work, but still no js files emitted.</p>
  
  <p>Attaching my tsconfig.json and package.json files.</p>
  
  <p><strong>tsconfig.json:</strong></p>
  
  <p><div class="snippet" data-lang="js" data-hide="false" data-console="true" data-babel="false">
  <div class="snippet-code">
  <pre class="snippet-code-js lang-js prettyprint-override"><code>{
    "compilerOptions": {
      /* Basic Options */
  
      "target": "es5",
  
      /* Specify ECMAScript target version: 'ES3' (default), 'ES5', 'ES2015', 'ES2016', 'ES2017', or 'ESNEXT'. */
  
      "module": "commonjs",
  
      /* Specify module code generation: 'commonjs', 'amd', 'system', 'umd', 'es2015', or 'ESNext'. */
      // "lib": [],                             /* Specify library files to be included in the compilation:  */
      // "allowJs": true,                       /* Allow javascript files to be compiled. */
      // "checkJs": true,                       /* Report errors in .js files. */
      // "jsx": "preserve",                     /* Specify JSX code generation: 'preserve', 'react-native', or 'react'. */
      // "declaration": true,                   /* Generates corresponding '.d.ts' file. */
      // "sourceMap": true,                     /* Generates corresponding '.map' file. */
      // "outFile": "./",                       /* Concatenate and emit output to single file. */
      // "outDir": "./",                        /* Redirect output structure to the directory. */
      // "rootDir": "./",                       /* Specify the root directory of input files. Use to control the output directory structure with --outDir. */
      // "removeComments": true,                /* Do not emit comments to output. */
      // "noEmit": true,                        /* Do not emit outputs. */
      // "importHelpers": true,                 /* Import emit helpers from 'tslib'. */
      // "downlevelIteration": true,            /* Provide full support for iterables in 'for-of', spread, and destructuring when targeting 'ES5' or 'ES3'. */
      // "isolatedModules": true,               /* Transpile each file as a separate module (similar to 'ts.transpileModule'). */
  
      /* Strict Type-Checking Options */
  
      "strict": true,
  
      /* Enable all strict type-checking options. */
      // "noImplicitAny": true,                 /* Raise error on expressions and declarations with an implied 'any' type. */
      // "strictNullChecks": true,              /* Enable strict null checks. */
      // "noImplicitThis": true,                /* Raise error on 'this' expressions with an implied 'any' type. */
      // "alwaysStrict": true,                  /* Parse in strict mode and emit "use strict" for each source file. */
  
      /* Additional Checks */
      // "noUnusedLocals": true,                /* Report errors on unused locals. */
      // "noUnusedParameters": true,            /* Report errors on unused parameters. */
      // "noImplicitReturns": true,             /* Report error when not all code paths in function return a value. */
      // "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true,    /* Report errors for fallthrough cases in switch statement. */
  
      /* Module Resolution Options */
      // "moduleResolution": "node",            /* Specify module resolution strategy: 'node' (Node.js) or 'classic' (TypeScript pre-1.6). */
      // "baseUrl": "./",                       /* Base directory to resolve non-absolute module names. */
      // "paths": {},                           /* A series of entries which re-map imports to lookup locations relative to the 'baseUrl'. */
      // "rootDirs": [],                        /* List of root folders whose combined content represents the structure of the project at runtime. */
  
  
      "typeRoots": ["node_modules/@types"] /* List of folders to include type definitions from. */
  
  
      // "types": [],                           /* Type declaration files to be included in compilation. */
      // "allowSyntheticDefaultImports": true,  /* Allow default imports from modules with no default export. This does not affect code emit, just typechecking. */
  
      /* Source Map Options */
      // "sourceRoot": "./",                    /* Specify the location where debugger should locate TypeScript files instead of source locations. */
      // "mapRoot": "./",                       /* Specify the location where debugger should locate map files instead of generated locations. */
      // "inlineSourceMap": true,               /* Emit a single file with source maps instead of having a separate file. */
      // "inlineSources": true,                 /* Emit the source alongside the sourcemaps within a single file; requires '--inlineSourceMap' or '--sourceMap' to be set. */
  
      /* Experimental Options */
      // "experimentalDecorators": true,        /* Enables experimental support for ES7 decorators. */
      // "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,         /* Enables experimental support for emitting type metadata for decorators. */
  
    }
  }</code></pre>
  </div>
  </div>
  </p>
  
  <p><strong>package.json:</strong></p>
  
  <p><div class="snippet" data-lang="js" data-hide="false" data-console="true" data-babel="false">
  <div class="snippet-code">
  <pre class="snippet-code-js lang-js prettyprint-override"><code>{
    "name": "learntool",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "description": "",
    "main": "index.ts",
    "scripts": {
      "start": "npm run build:live",
      "build:live": "nodemon --exec \node_modules\bin\ts-node -- index.ts"
    },
    "keywords": [],
    "author": "",
    "license": "ISC",
    "devDependencies": {
      "@types/node": "^8.0.9",
      "nodemon": "^1.11.0",
      "ts-node": "^3.2.0",
      "typescript": "^2.4.1"
    }
  }</code></pre>
  </div>
  </div>
  </p>
  
  <p>Please note the build:live line in the above snippet. It has been changed from the specified one because i use Windows.</p>