refactor: organise TypeScript config and migrate helpers (#44747)

* feat: allow more 1000 steps to be created at once

* refactor: start migrating to typescript

* refactor: delete-step to ts

* refactor: migrated some helpers

* refactor: migrate create-empty-steps

* refactor: migrate create-step-between

* refactor: finish migrating to TS

* refactor: migrate tests

* fix: ensure mock.restore is done after each test

* fix: prevent double-tscing

* fix: repair the tests

* chore: use ts-node for scripts

We don't need the performance boost of incremental compilation and
ts-node is easier to work with

* refactor: consolidate tsconfigs

* refactor: replace gulp

* fix: use ts-node for build-curriculum

* fix: allow ts compilation of config

* feat: create and use create:config script

* fix: add /config to eslint projects

* fix: remove gulp script

tools/challenge-helper-scripts/helpers/get-project-path-metadata.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import fs from 'fs';
+
+// Process the contents of a argument (json) to an Object
+function getMetaData(file: string): Record<string, unknown> {
+  let metaData;
+
+  try {
+    metaData = fs.readFileSync(file, 'utf8');
+  } catch (err) {
+    throw `No _meta.json file exists at ${file}`;
+  }
+
+  return JSON.parse(metaData) as Record<string, unknown>;
+}
+
+export { getMetaData };