TypeScript Promises World Peace, Delivers Only Typo Alerts; MongoDB IDs Still Not Strings

A developer recently encountered issues with comparing MongoDB product IDs as strings, which led to a deeper understanding of TypeScript and MongoDB cursors. The developer initially thought TypeScript affected runtime behavior, but discovered it only exists during development to catch errors. MongoDB's find method returns a cursor, not all documents at once, which can be iterated over or converted to an array using toArray. This understanding clarified why ID comparisons were failing and why TypeScript wasn't changing runtime behavior. The developer now views TypeScript as a tool that helps prevent subtle bugs by checking object structures, and working with cursors avoids performance issues with large datasets. By recognizing the boundaries of these tools, the developer can write more efficient code and avoid unnecessary frustration. This experience highlights the importance of understanding the limitations and capabilities of development tools, particularly in the context of modern web development and database management.