F# 1.9 is seeing the rollout of a number of additions to the F# language, and this is the first of a series of blog entries on these.  For starters, the 1.9.2 release has seen the addition of "use" bindings. Here is a simple example:     let writePlayList() =         use outp = File.CreateText(@"playlist.txt")     … Continue reading Introducing “use” bindings in F# 1.9.2 →

Here are the full release notes for F# 1.9.2.7. Slicing syntax The following syntax forms     expr := ...           | e1.[range1]           | e1.[range1,range2]       range := e2..e3            | ..e3            | e2..            | * represent slicing from a 1D or 2D data structures that supports associative lookup on ordered keys. In … Continue reading Full Release Notes for F# 1.9.2.7 →

[ Update: F# 1.9.3 has been posted, and we don't expect any more 1.9.2 releases. ] [ Update: the F# samples got dropped from this release - we'll be fixing that this week ] [ Update: Granville has just posted a blog entry on how to get this version installing on Orcas Beta2 ] [ … Continue reading F# 1.9.2.7 released! →

I'm glad to report that Robert Pickering's book Foundations of F# will be out soon. I'll be writing more on this soon - it was a pleasure to work with Robert and Jim Huddleston as technical editor on this book, and I'm sure you will find it a great entry-level introduction to F# programming. Speaking … Continue reading F# Books, and F#/XAML →

F# 1.9.1.9 includes an addition that can substantially simplify F# numeric code. This provides a solution for a problem that has been present in F# programming from the start, but is not present in many other languages. In particular, the functions int, float, float32 etc. are now defined as overloaded conversion operators. For example, you can replace … Continue reading More on the overloaded conversion operators in 1.9.1.9 →

Hi all, I'm glad to announce the availability of F# 1.9.1.9. It's available for download from this link: http://research.microsoft.com/research/downloads/details/c8d270ce-dc93-4b82-8125-2c57036520b3/details.aspx This is in general a bug fix release over 1.9.1.8, with some exceptions We've added two great new features: Overloaded numeric conversion functions. The functions int, float, float32 etc. now overloaded conversion operators. For example, you can … Continue reading F# 1.9.1.9 available (currently MSI only): Includes overloaded numeric conversion functions and checked arithmetic →

  On hubFS AndyMan has recently announced "Hardware Design F#", HDFS, Version 0.2, based on a port of HDCaml, by Tom Hawkins, though rapidly acquiring a life of its own.  I blogged about version 0.1 a while back. Here are his release highlights:   The project has moved home. Now at  http://code.google.com/p/hdfs/ and  http://groups.google.com/group/hdfsharp Revised circuit design API.  Where … Continue reading HDFS – Hardware Design Using F#, version 0.2 →

I'm glad to announce the availability of a draft paper on F# Active Patterns, co-authored with James Margetson and Gregory Neverov.  I've included the draft as an attachment to this post. In the paper we cover How we combine total, partial and parameterized active patterns in one unified mechanism Examples of using active patterns to … Continue reading Draft Paper on F# Active Patterns →

[ Note: An update to this release has been announced: see version 1.9.1.9 at http://blogs.msdn.com/dsyme/archive/2007/05/06/f-1-9-1-9-available-currently-msi-only-includes-overloaded-numeric-conversion-functions-and-checked-arithmetic.aspx %5D I am very pleased to announce that F# 1.9.1 is now available for download. This is a major release for us, a first step toward F# 2.0, and incorporating two exiciting new features: Active Patterns and Implicit Class Construction. The … Continue reading F# 1.9.1.8 Released! →

  I’m pleased to announce that F# 1.1.13 has been released. The original release announcement is here. You can download this release from http://research.microsoft.com/fsharp/release.aspx . A summary of the changes in this release is given below (in some cases these updating the changes in the README-fsharp.html from the distribution)   Enjoy!   Don and James … Continue reading F# 1.1.13 detailed release notes →

Recently I had the pleasure of talking with Mike Hall and a DV Camera for an hour, the end result being two F# videos/interviews recently posted on Channel 9. There are two parts:                   Interview by Mike Hall                 The F# WebCrawler and DirectX demos   Thanks to Damien Watkins for arranging this :-)  

  [ Note: this post is now out-of-date: drafts of Chapters 2-7 are now available ]    I'm very glad to announce the availability of an early draft of Chapter 2 of a book on F# which I'm currently in the process of co-authoring.  The projected title of the book is, unabashedly, "Expert F#". This is one of two F# books planned … Continue reading Draft Chapter 2 of “Expert F#”: Essential Language Features →

Detailed release notes for 1.1.12.3   Collected changes between v1.1.11.12 and 1.1.12.3 Lightweight syntax option. Are you sick of writing in? The #light option makes the use of certain keywords such as in optional by using indentation. See the informal language specification for details, as well as the ConcurrentLife sample and the Samples101 tutorial. Enable … Continue reading Detailed release notes for 1.1.12.3 →

We're glad to announce that F# 1.1.12.3 supports the optional use of lightweight syntax through the use of whitespace to make indentation significant.  At the time of this release this is an experimental feature, though it is assumed that its use will become widespread. The F# indentation-aware syntax option is a conservative extension of the … Continue reading Lightweight syntax option in F# 1.1.12.3 →

We're very pleased to announce that F# 1.1.12 is available for download. (note: since the time of writing this has been updated to F# 1.1.12.5) This release incorporates a significant number of minor improvements combined with two new features: a lightweight syntax option and a feature called Active Patterns.   Both are considered "beta" features: minor changes … Continue reading F# 1.1.12 now released! →

Greg Neverov (inventor of the C# dialect Metaphor and an intern at MSR Cambridge this summer) has been working on an experimental new language feature called "active patterns".  This topic has come up on The Hub, so I thought I would mention a bit about it here, though I will only be able to give a brief taste … Continue reading An upcoming experimental feature: Active Patterns in F# →

The Microsoft MVP Tomas Petricek has been continuing his exploration of F# LINQ-style quotations to implement a first cut at an F# CodeDom provider, with a view to building entire web applications in F# alone.  He's posted a blog entry on The Hub (n.b. you currently have to register with The Hub for this entry): I was recently … Continue reading On The Hub: F# and ASP.NET 2.0 (CodeDom provider) →

Ralf Herbrich is a co-leader of MSR Cambridge's Applied Games Group, which specializes in using machine learning techniques such as TrueSkill to improve the player experience of XBox Live and other applications.  He's now also an F# user and advocate, having recently succesfully used F# to rapidly perform new, experimental analysis of masses of new … Continue reading F# for games and machine learning: .NET + performance + scripting →

The text of this post is also available as an article, which I'll modify with latest material on this topic as time goes on. As of version 1.1.10, F# now supports first-class, composable events. Here 'events' is used in the same sense as in the C# language, but you'll notice some important differences in how events … Continue reading F# First Class Events: Simplicity and Compositionality in Imperative Reactive Programming →

[ Updated Note: Visual Studio 2003 users: this release has an installation problem when used with Visual Studio 2003.  Please see the details here for a workaround. ]   [ Updated Note: Virtual PC users: The good man at JJB Research has noted that users of Virtual PC may need to adjust key bindings in … Continue reading F# 1.1.10 now available →

  [ Note: a later, more up-to-date post decribes F# Power Pack LINQ support ] In case you haven't heard, LINQ (Language Integrated Queries) is Microsoft's project codename for adding a range of features to C# and Visual Basic to allow programmers to write "language-integrated query, set, and transform operations".  The idea is to use a combination … Continue reading F# meets LINQ, and great things happen (Part I) →

The first "technology preview" relese of F# 1.1 will be released in the next few days.  This is an exciting time for the project, and we're sure you'll enjoy the additions we've made to the language, the libraries and the interactive development environment.  One of the really great new additions is "F# Interactive", a top-level … Continue reading A Taste of What’s New in F# 1.1 →

F# is a research project from Microsoft Research. It is not a Microsoft product. All opinions are my own. All content is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. F# 1.0.4.2 is now available at http://research.microsoft.com/downloads.  This release was made to coincide with Microsoft Research "TechFest 2005", which I mentioned in a … Continue reading F# 1.0.4.2 Now Available →