Investigate whether EventTarget should be constructable

[DanielRosenwasser]

It seems like it will always throw an error, so perhaps we shouldn't mark it as constructable.

[rielz]

Indeed. The DOM spec does not say it has a constructor:
[WHATWG] [W3C]

[zhengbli]

@mhegazy would removing the constructor affect the typeof operator on this type?

[DanielRosenwasser]

As a type query, or a typeof expression?

As a type query on something of type EventTarget, you should see no difference.

If using a typeof expression, you'll get "object" back at runtime anyway.

So either way, there should be no difference.

[mhegazy]

i believe @zhengbli meant instanceof checks. an yes ti will be an error to call x instanceof EventTarget

[zhengbli]

@DanielRosenwasser @mhegazy sorry I meant instanceof check.

[rielz]

It would be sufficient to only remove the constructor (not the whole declared var).
EventTarget and its prototype property do exist in the global namespace.

[mhegazy]

the constructor does exist at runtime too, it is just illigal to call. This is the same for almost all DOM classes. i think the right fix here is to switch all DOM declarations to classes, and make thier constructors private. this requires microsoft/TypeScript#2341

[zhengbli]

As this issue belongs to a larger parent issue, I'm closing this one.