Why you should use F#

This post was written by Phillip Carter and Mads Torgersen. Both work on languages on the .NET team.

At Build 2017, we presented a tech talk entitled “Why You Should Use F#”. However, not everyone can attend Build, and many attendees were unable to find a position in the room where they could adequately hear us. You can see the talk for yourself in video format if you haven’t seen it already.

In this talk, we cover:

We recommend watching the talk to see much of the above points in action. If you haven’t tried F# before, there’s no better time than now! Functional programming is on the rise, and now is the best time to start learning. There are multiple ways to get started, written in the official documentation:

Getting Started with Visual Studio

Getting Started with Visual Studio for Mac

Getting Started with Visual Studio Code and Ionide

Getting Started with Command-line Tools

You can also get a thematic overview of F# and its features with the popular Tour of F# document.

Additionally, you can use F# for Azure Functions and Azure Notebooks. It’s fully supported in both services. Go forth and give it a try today!

Finally, F# is also backed by an independent foundation, the F# Software Foundation (FSSF). The FSSF is free to join, has an active community, and has a mentorship program that anyone can take part in. When you join, you get access to the FSSF slack, which has over 1200 members. If you’re interested in F#, feel free to join! It’s free and has no obligations on your part.

Author

Phillip Carter

Program Manager

Phillip is a PM on the .NET team, focusing on the F# language, F# documentation, F# tooling, and project system tooling. He wishes he had more time to code, but that doesn't stop him from having fun with people on GitHub. He loves functional programming and language-related tooling, and is always available to chat about wild and wacky ways to make programming more enjoyable.

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