Explain Project References and its benefits

TypeScript project references are a feature introduced in TypeScript 3.0 that allow developers to structure their TypeScript programs into smaller, interdependent projects. This feature is designed to improve the development experience in several ways, particularly in terms of build performance, code organization, and editor efficiency.

Benefits of Project References

1. Improved Compilation Speed: By breaking down a large project into smaller projects, TypeScript can compile only the projects that have changed rather than the entire codebase. This incremental compilation significantly reduces build times[1][2].

2. Enhanced Code Organization: Project references enforce a clear separation between different parts of your application or library. This logical separation helps in maintaining a cleaner codebase, making it easier to manage and understand[2][3].

3. Reduced Memory Usage in Editors: When using project references, editors like Visual Studio Code can consume less memory. This is because the editor needs to load and process fewer files at a time, leading to a smoother development experience.

4. Automatic Dependency Compilation: When building a project that depends on other projects (specified in the tsconfig.json file), TypeScript automatically compiles the dependencies first. This ensures that the most up-to-date version of the code is being used across your projects[1][8].

5. Streamlined Editor Integration: Editors with TypeScript support, such as Visual Studio Code, have first-class support for project references. This means that features like go-to-definition, refactorings, and error checking work seamlessly across project boundaries[5].

6. Enforcement of Project Boundaries: Project references make it explicit which projects depend on each other. This prevents accidental imports from projects that should not be dependencies, thereby avoiding circular dependencies and ensuring a cleaner architecture[5].

7. Support for Incremental Compilation: TypeScript's incremental compilation feature is enhanced by project references, allowing the compiler t...