F Sharp (programming language): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:17, 11 August 2005

Revision as of 22:50, 21 August 2005

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'''F#''' (pronounced F sharp) is a mixed [[functional programming|functional]] and [[Imperative programming|imperative]] [[programming language]] for the [[Microsoft .NET]] platform. F# was developed by [http://blogs.msdn.com/dsyme/default.aspx Don Syme] at [[Microsoft]] Research, and has a core language that is similar to that of the [[Ocaml]] language (itself a member of the [[ML programming language]] family).

A strength of F# is it'sits setting within .NET. A key design aim is seamless .NET interop, both via direct use of .NET APIs from F# and authorship of natural .NET components in F#. Consequently, the main F# libraries are the .NET libraries (e.g. DirectX, Windows Forms, ASP.NET as well as alternatives like GTK#). A Visual Studio plugin provides a cutting edge development environment for an ML language. For starters, the background type-checking with feedback under the mouse are invaluable especially for those learning a language with type inference.

OCaml and ''''F# '''' share a common language subset and it is practical to cross compile significant codes between the two. This enables CAML codes to port to the .NET world and core F# codes to run with OCAML. Core CAML compatability is taken seriously.