Resolution of null allocation and type ambiguity issues

.gitignore

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 /node_modules/
 /.idea/
 /dist/
+/outdocs/
+package-lock.json

eslint.config.mjs

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import js from '@eslint/js';
+import tseslint from 'typescript-eslint';
+
+export default tseslint.config(
+  js.configs.recommended,
+  ...tseslint.configs.recommended,
+  ...tseslint.configs.stylistic,
+  {
+    files: ["src/**/*.ts"],
+    // these are overriding good style for now to reduce the error count - the intention is to reintroduce gradually
+    rules : {
+        "prefer-const": "off",
+        "@typescript-eslint/consistent-type-assertions": "off",
+         "@typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any": "off",
+         "@typescript-eslint/no-inferrable-types": "off",
+         "no-array-constructor": "off", // see https://typescript-eslint.io/rules/no-array-constructor/
+         "@typescript-eslint/no-array-constructor": "off"
+    }
+  }
+
+
+);

package.json

@@ -33,17 +33,20 @@
     },
     "homepage": "https://github.com/tsastro/tsofa#readme",
     "devDependencies": {
+        "@eslint/js": "^9.9.1",
         "@types/node": "^20.7.1",
         "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^6.17.0",
         "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^6.17.0",
-        "eslint": "^8.49.0",
+        "eslint": "^9.9.1",
         "eslint-plugin-import": "^2.28.1",
         "eslint-plugin-jsdoc": "^46.8.1",
         "eslint-plugin-prefer-arrow": "^1.2.3",
+        "globals": "^15.9.0",
         "testyts": "^1.5.0",
         "ts-node": "^10.9.1",
         "typedoc": "^0.25.6",
-        "typescript": "^5.2.2"
+        "typescript": "^5.2.2",
+        "typescript-eslint": "^8.3.0"
     },
     "dependencies": {}
 }