Expert F# 2.0 (Expert's Voice in F#) [Paperback]

Don Syme (Author), Adam Granicz (Author), Antonio Cisternino (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 7, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1430224312 | ISBN-13: 978-1430224310 | Edition: 1

Expert F# 2.0 is about practical programming in a beautiful language that puts the power and elegance of functional programming into the hands of professional developers. In combination with .NET, F# achieves unrivaled levels of programmer productivity and program clarity.

Expert F# 2.0 is

• The authoritative guide to F# by the inventor of F#
• A comprehensive reference of F# concepts, syntax, and features
• A treasury of expert F# techniques for practical, real-world programming

F# isn't just another functional programming language. It's a general-purpose language ideal for real-world development. F# seamlessly integrates functional, imperative, and object-oriented programming styles so you can flexibly and elegantly solve any programming problem. Whatever your background, you’ll find that F# is easy to learn, fun to use, and extraordinarily powerful. F# will change the way you think about–and go about–programming.

Written by F#'s inventor and two major contributors to its development, Expert F# 2.0 is the authoritative, comprehensive, and in-depth guide to the language and its use. Designed to help others become experts, the first part of the book quickly yet carefully describes the F# language. The second part then shows how to use F# elegantly for a wide variety of practical programming tasks.

The world's foremost experts in F# show you how to program in F# the way they do!

What you’ll learn

• Explore F# and its features quickly and thoroughly in the introductory chapters
• Use F# with the newest .NET technologies such as WPF, LINQ, and ASP.NET AJAX
• Build reactive, asynchronous, and distributed applications with F#
• Interoperate with F# from other .NET languages, especially C#
• Test, profile, and performance tune F# applications
• Work with real-life examples and advanced programming features

Who this book is for

Expert F# 2.0 is for anyone interested in state-of-the art .NET programming. Professional programmers will find it engrossing. F# provides invaluable insight into the future of both C# and VB, which are now adopting some (but far from all) of the functional features of F#. Once programmers learn F#, few feel like returning to either C# or VB. The academic community will find F# the answer to a decades-long prayer: a language suitable for teaching computer science that also excites and empowers students because it can be used not just in the classroom, but also in the real world.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Getting Started with F# and NET
3. Creating Your First F# Program—Introducing Functional Programming
4. Introducing Imperative Programming
5. Mastering Types and Generics 
6. Working with Objects and Modules
7. Encapsulating and Packaging Your Code
8. Mastering F#: Common Techniques 
9. Introducing Language-Oriented Programming
10. Using the F# and NET Libraries
11. Building Graphical User Interfaces
12. Working with Symbolic Representations 
13. Reactive, Asynchronous, and Parallel Programming
14. Building Smart Web Applications
15. Working with Data
16. Lexing and Parsing
17. Interoperating with C and COM 
18. Debugging and Testing F# Programs 
19. Designing F# Libraries

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Don Syme is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, and the main designer of F#. Since joining Microsoft Research in 1998, he has been a seminal contributor to a wide variety of leading-edge projects, including generics in C# and the .NET Common Language Runtime, F# itself, F# asynchronous programming and units of measure in F#. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in 1999.

Adam Granicz is the chief executive officer of IntelliFactory, the leading provider of F# training, development and consulting services, and technologies that enable rapid functional, reactive web development. He has over six years of experience applying F# in commercial projects, and works on WebSharper, IntelliFactory's web development platform that offers unrivaled productivity, a uniform programming model based on F#, and the fastest way to develop robust, client-based rich Internet applications. Adam is an active F# evangelist, a regular author in online F# media and speaker at development conferences and industry partners, and serves on the steering committee of the Commercial Users of Functional Programming (CUFP) Workshop, representing the F# segment.

Antonio Cisternino is a professor in the Computer Science Department of the University of Pisa. His primary research is on scientific computing, meta-programming and domain-specific languages on virtual-machine-based execution environments. He has been active in the .NET community since 2001 and developed VSLab, a Microsoft Visual Studio add-in to support MATLAB-like programming in F# and Visual Studio. He is also author of annotated C#, an extension of C#, and Robotics4.NET, a framework for programming robots with Microsoft .NET. Cisternino holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pisa.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (June 7, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430224312
• ISBN-13: 978-1430224310
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,003,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The bible for F# programming October 9, 2010

By D. Platt

Format:Kindle Edition

I originally learned F# from the first version of this book and the second version is every bit as informative and provides the necessary update on this rapidly evolving language. I have found all the F# books I have in my library informative, but they lack the depth of this reference. If you want a completely thorough introduction to the language this is both a great tutorial and something you will keep handy while programming to look up the more obscure corners of language, then this is the book to choose. The early chapters one through five give you a basic grounding in the language, carefully separating the functional elements which are stylistically preferred from the imperative constructs most programmers will be more familiar with but which are typically minimizing good functional programming. The middle of the book broadens your programming repertoire with more sophisticated techniques including objects and taking advantage of the library environments as well as more specialized programming techniques such as language development. Finally the later chapters deal with more applied topics interacting with databases, Web technology and programming tools necessary for development. I keep expert F# 2.0 with me all the time (the electronic copy is very handy the paper copy is surprisingly heavy), though I have been programming for F# for many years. I would highly recommend this if you need a good reference for the language. I think you could start with this if you have a good grounding in another strongly typed language like C# or java, but the first few chapters will keep you busy for a while.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read - Provides great depth and detail July 20, 2010

By Jonathan W. Maccollum

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this book hoping to improve my existing C# knowledge with the power of better functional programming. This book has not only done that but has also provided me with the tools needed to write quick and elegant code in a performance-oriented way. With the aid of this book, F# is now one of my most powerful tools in development. The authors have packed this book with mini-examples that build upon themselves throughout each chapter. I have quickly been able to read and understand their examples and apply their design decisions to not only F# code that I write, but also the functional-leaning C# code in my current projects.

This book is a must have for any .NET developer.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Advanced Practitioner April 12, 2012

By Ryan Riley

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Don and the other authors include a number of samples and chapters for those wanting to pick up F#, but for the most part this is a reference and meant for those quite familiar with F#, OCaml, or similar functional languages. If you have another introductory book and are looking for more, this is a great addition to your library.