title: what does `(this as any)` mean in this typescript snippet?
body: <p>I meet this code and do not understand exactly what it does :</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-js prettyprint-override"><code>public uploadItem(value:FileItem):void {
      let index = this.getIndexOfItem(value);
      let item = this.queue[index];
      let transport = this.options.isHTML5 ? '_xhrTransport' : '_iframeTransport';
      item._prepareToUploading();
      if (this.isUploading) {
        return;
      }
      this.isUploading = true;
      (this as any)[transport](item);
    }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Can anyone explain what does this  <strong>(this as any)</strong> statement do?</p>