Incrementally replace any types with strong types

[thewahome]

Update the following locations

• Update src/modules/authentication with stronger types #3187
• src/modules/cache
• src/modules/suggestions
• src/modules/validation
• add others as expected.

[ElinorW]

This is continuous work that we can each contribute on

[musale]

I think an approach we can use here is to tackle parts of the code that have fewer side effects. Looking at it from the project structure, parts in like modules can be handled first and slowly move to tightly coupled parts. Another way is looking at product features, for example, ensure the login/logout is strongly types first. All in all, at some point we will have a _huge_ish PR but with running the test and simple local checks, this can be done.

[musale]

Current any counts in src folder, excluding files with no any can be viewed with this command in linux:

 grep -c -R 'any'| grep -v :0 | grep -v '.json' | grep -v '.png'

with output like:

app/middleware/localStorageMiddleware.ts:1
app/middleware/telemetryMiddleware.ts:3
app/services/actions/adaptive-cards-action-creator.ts:2
app/services/actions/permissions-action-creator.spec.ts:2
...

the total count we have is 137. Now we can reduce as we go.

Update

Current count 135
Use this to count

 grep -c -R 'any'| grep -v :0 | grep -v '.json' | grep -v '.png' | wc -l

[ElinorW]

Great suggestion @musale.
We can create task lists under this issue to track the work as we go