Getting Functional with F#, Page 4

Conclusion

F# is a functional language, but with a twist: It supports object-oriented programming and thus all the aspects of the latest .NET Framework. If you are familiar with languages such as C#, a functional way of programming might take some time getting used to, but the more you let yourself learn the language, the more useful it can become.

In this article, you learned the basic features of the F# language, and why and where it is useful. By looking at the code examples, you should get a good glimpse of what is possible, especially when business applications are concerned. Of course, there is a lot more to a language than a single article can teach you, but each journey starts with a small step.

In the future, F# is without doubt going to grow in importance. Most probably, the next version of Visual Studio, version 2010, will contain support for F# built-in. Although the whole .NET is at your disposal from F# applications, the best places to use F# might be rapid prototyping, algorithm implementation, mathematical functions, and everything where "programming in the small" is sought.

Until then, let us get functional!

Jani Järvinen

Download the Code

You can download the code that accompanies this article here.

Links

The following links will help you get started with the F# language.

• Microsoft F# Developer Center: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/fsharp/
• F# September 2008 CTP Download Page: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=61ad6924-93ad-48dc-8c67-60f7e7803d3c&displaylang=en
• F# Quick Tour—Some Basics: http://research.microsoft.com/fsharp/manual/quicktour.aspx
• F# on Microsoft Research: http://research.microsoft.com/fsharp/fsharp.aspx
• F# 1.9.6 Language Specification (Draft): http://research.microsoft.com/fsharp/manual/spec2.aspx

About the Author

Jani Järvinen is a software development trainer and consultant in Finland. He is a Microsoft C# MVP and is a frequent author, and has published three books about software development. He is the group leader of a Finnish software development expert group named ITpro.fi. His blog can be found at http://www.saunalahti.fi/janij/. You can send him mail by clicking on his name at the top of the article.