Also, the array access not returning an optional type (I wish there was a strict option for that) often gets me.

We need a middle ground: “TypeStrict“ that can clean up some of the edge cases.

If you need strict integers, you can create your own fake type:

type Int32 = number & {__type:'Int32'};

I do this with strings sometime when I want a string subtype that can’t be accidentally assigned by a normal string.