Mono Picking Up F# Support For Linux, Mac OS X, Etc

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Mono Picking Up F# Support For Linux, Mac OS X, Etc

Last week Microsoft decided to open-source their F# programming language in the form of its compiler and their language's core libraries. Microsoft's F# was opened up under the Apache 2 license and following that release comes a MonoDevelop plug-in and an announcement from Miguel de Icaza that they will begin distributing F# in Mono...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=ODc3OQ

[AnonymousCoward]

What the F#?

sorry, i couldn't resist.

[curaga]

A,B,C,C++,D,F#? What happened to E?

[kuse]

A,B,C,C++,D,F#? What happened to E?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_E

[NomadDemon]

yea.. F# = Fis C# = Cis... sorry iam musician ^^

[Anssi]

A,B,C,C++,D,F#? What happened to E?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_programming_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_programming_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_programming_language

[BlackStar]

F# rocks big time. Also Apache 2 licensed code from Microsoft, wow!

[liam]

F# rocks big time. Also Apache 2 licensed code from Microsoft, wow!

What's good about it? Seriously, I'm curious. From the little blurb I read somewhere it sounds like some sort of declarative systems language(!). Is that correct?

[smitty3268]

What's good about it? Seriously, I'm curious. From the little blurb I read somewhere it sounds like some sort of declarative systems language(!). Is that correct?

It's a functional language, like Erlang, Haskell, Standard ML, OCaml, etc.

[BlackStar]

It's a functional language, like Erlang, Haskell, Standard ML, OCaml, etc.

Actually, it's a multi-paradigm language that supports functional, object-oriented and imperative (ugh) programming. It is very similar to Ocaml but has simpler/more readable syntax.

What's good about it? Seriously, I'm curious. From the little blurb I read somewhere it sounds like some sort of declarative systems language(!). Is that correct?

Technically, it has several qualities that make it really powerful:
- static typing with extensive type inference.
- built-in support for asynchronous programming.
- built-in support for units-of-measure. If you define x(m) as position, t(sec) as time and v(m/sec) as velocity, the compiler will let you assign "x = v*t" but will raise an error if you try to do "x = t". This is all compile-time (no performance penalty).
- it can consume any Mono/.Net and Java(IKVM) library.
- it has first-class IDE and debugging support (MonoDevelop/Visual Studio).

Historically, functional languages have historically lived in their own, fragmented little worlds. This may be the first that actually stands a chance to become mainstream, which is quite exciting in itself. (I've actually seen job postings for F#, which I've never seen for Haskell, Lisp or *ML).

Finally, this is an open-source project implemented by Microsoft and shipped in Visual Studio. Note that Apache 2.0, section 3, grants an irrevocable patent license - could it be that the behemoth is slowly turning around?