Have you ever been in a hurry and pounded in a nail using something other than a hammer? Or perhaps settled an argument concerning distances with “the length of my arm is about 20 inches, and that’s about two arm lengths...”? You might not be willing to fall for such obviously flawed shortcuts, but as your humble author, I will admit that I have.

There is elegance to using the right tool for the job. And, just like a hammer or a tape measure, programming languages are tools like any other. Throughout this book, you will discover that although F# isn’t the best tool for every situation, it is the perfect tool for some situations.

This book is about showing you how to use the F# programming language as a general purpose tool, with an emphasis on the specific domains where it can lead to dramatic boosts in productivity.