Why learn F#? This multi-paradigm language not only offers you an enormous productivity boost through functional programming, it also lets you develop applications using your existing object-oriented and imperative programming skills. With Programming F#, you'll quickly discover the many advantages of Microsoft's new language, which includes access to all the great tools and libraries of the .NET platform.

Learn how to reap the benefits of functional programming for your next project -- whether it's quantitative computing, large-scale data exploration, or even a pursuit of your own. With this comprehensive guide, F# team member Chris Smith gives you a head start on the fundamentals and advanced concepts of the F# language.

• Get a clear understanding of functional programming, and how you can use it to simplify code

• Gain a solid understanding of the language's core syntax, including object-oriented and imperative styles

• Simplify concurrent and parallel programming with F# Asynchronous Workflows and the Parallel Extensions to .NET

• Learn advanced F# concepts, such as quotations and computation expressions

"This book emphasizes simple, clear explanations of the foundational elements of F#, always with an eye on the enjoyment that comes from programming in general, and programming with F# in particular." Don Syme, Principal Researcher and F# Designer, Microsoft Research

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 7 Ratings

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the book ! - 2009-11-19
Reviewer Rating:
It has been a long time since I got excited about a programming book as much as I did with Programming F#. I have all the books on F# available in the market today(including the Manning MEAP - Functional Programming for the Real World: With Examples in F# and C#. But I should say that this is the best book for learning F# if you have no experience with functional programming. I am not sure how this book would be for a person who is totally new to programming (chances are they would find this ahead of their curve). But for a person who has good experience with imperative programming this book would get you up and running with F# in specific and functional programming in general.

The book by Don Syme Expert F# (Expert's Voice in .Net) (who invented F#) is also good but not as good as Programming F# for new functional programmers. But once you have read this book, Don Syme's book might be a good follow up.

The strongest point of this book is the clarity with which concepts are explained and the choice of good examples to explain a concept. They are concise and to the point. It also made the book surprisingly small (at a little less than 400 pages). But no worries, everything that you need to get a firm footing in F# is in here.

This is truly a 5 star book. Highly recommended.

The table of contents:
Part I. Multiparadigm Programming

Chapter 1. Introduction to F#
Chapter 2. Fundamentals
Chapter 3. Functional Programming
Chapter 4. Imperative Programming
Chapter 5. Object-Oriented Programming
Chapter 6. .NET Programming
Chapter 7. Applied Functional Programming
Chapter 8. Applied Object-Oriented Programming

Part II. Programming F#

Chapter 9. Scripting
Chapter 10. Computation Expressions
Chapter 11. Asynchronous and Parallel Programming
Chapter 12. Reflection
Chapter 13. Quotations
Appendix A. Overview of .NET Libraries
Appendix B. F# Interop

Index

Excellent F# Book - 2010-02-01
Reviewer Rating:
This book covers the F# language, a functional programming language written for .NET. The author does a great job of introducing F# and how it works. If you are already comfortable with functional programming languages then F# should be pretty easy to learn. If you have never seen one then F# is going to be a culture shock. Having previous .NET experience is a necessity for this book.

This book does a great job explaining both the language and the basics of functional languages. The book does not attempt to teach you all the aspects of functional programming so if you are interested in this topic you'll have to look elsewhere. The book uses a lot of examples to help clarify the discussion.

If you're looking to learn F# then this is the book you want. It was written by one of the designers of the language so there is no better resource to learn from.

Programming F# (Animal Guide) - 2010-01-30
Reviewer Rating:
A well written, clear and elegant book. I like the structure followed by the author and the way that programming concepts are presented. Although the book is dedicated to F#, author don't apologize functional language like other extremist books. Flaws of the absolutely pure functional programming are explained and the great usefulness of the integration in .NET and the object oriented world is presented.

an elegantly concise survey of F# - 2010-01-21
Reviewer Rating:
A hallmark of this book's approach can be summed up as: fun! Chris has an infectious enthusiasm for programming that he imparts to readers.

Chris really "gets it"; being able to step back from a subject matter in order to answer the proverbial question: "What does the sum total of these disparate parts mean?". In technical tomes, it's easy to get lost in a sea of details; no longer being able to see the forest for the trees. The real mark of a master is being able to explain things well, making the complex seem simple. That can spare the reader from having to learn things the hard way.

Learning a subject matter is like someone throwing coats at you: if you don't have a coat rack to put them on, they'll wind up on the floor. Chris gives you a great framework with which to organize the subject matter. Down-to-earth, well grounded: cuts right to the heart of matters.

This book is concise, yet accessible. I was surprised at how petite the book is physically: it's rather small and light for a technical book; but that's good. The information is well organized and balanced. The flow of the material is nicely coherent. This book can also serve as a reference: just the right size to be handy, and help you get your bearings. The index is quite good. The examples are well chosen, being just the right size to demonstrate each point without extraneous distractions.

There's a concept in extreme programming called YAGNI. ("You Ain't Gonna Need It!"; ergo don't broach details until they are proven to be needed.) This book could be considered "YAGNI-compliant" (if such a term exists ;-) because it tries not to overwhelm the reader with too many details. Overwhelming a reader could cause needless confusion and frustration. Conversely, a reader empowered with the big picture can easily fill in missing details (often via a simple internet search; indeed, all available F# materials are fantastic).

.Net programmers will get a great overview of the .Net framework from a unique perspective. One surprise for me was the section on WPF. It is very short. (It's in the appendix.) Yet, it cut to the chase immediately in a very refreshing way: what's the goal of XAML and WPF? It's to decouple the UI from the programming logic. How is that achieved? Through binding and resources. He then showed a trivialized example to demonstrate how this is done. That simple example, and the ensuing discussion, made the light bulb go on for me in a more profound way than from reading huge tomes on WPF. (Epiphany! What does it really mean to abstract your code from the user interface?)

People from a LISP or Scheme background should find this book delightful. Chris shows how F# possesses elegant simplicity of expression after Scheme's own heart. The section on continuations is awesome. This important (but potentially difficult to grasp) topic is very well motivated. If you had trouble groking continuations in Scheme, you'll be pleased with Chris's presentation.

Haskell programmers will likely enjoy the discussion on monads. Chris has a way of demystifying esoteric concepts, and showing their pragmatic applications.

All the important concepts of F# and functional programming are well presented, in order to get you on your way quickly. I highly recommend this gem of a book.

Great Introduction To F#! - 2009-11-16
Reviewer Rating:
We used this book at the Nashville F# Firestarter and it is excellent as both a reference and a guide to learning both the language and functional programming. Given the complexity involved in explaining a new paradigm in addition to a new language, I think Chris Smith has done a great job doing both in one of the better books I've read on learning a new language.

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