Functional programming is perhaps the next big wave in application development. As experienced developers know, functional programming makes its mark by allowing application builders to develop solutions to complicated programming situations cleanly and efficiently. A rich history of functional languages, including Erlang and OCaml, leads the way to F#, Microsoft's effort to bring the elegance and focus of functional programming into the world of managed code and .NET.

With Beginning F#, you have a companion that that will help you explore F# and functional programming in a .NET environment. This book is both a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of the language and an incisive guide to using F# for real-world professional development.

Reviewed by Don Syme, the chief architect of F# at Microsoft Research, Beginning F# is a great foundation for exploring functional programming and its role in the future of application development.

• A deep familiarity with the tenets and advantages of functional programming.
• How to understand F#'s concise and elegant syntax.
• How to access the huge range of libraries and components that run on the .NET Framework.
• How to develop for real-world scenarios using functional programming and F#.
• How to develop realistic applications through a comprehensive tutorial-based approach.
• How to learn imperative and concurrent programming techniques within the functional programming paradigm.

F# is the future of programming (not just on .NET), and the future is now. If you are already familiar with functional programming, you'll find Beginning F# a great introduction to the language itself. If you are new to the function programming arena, this book will also serve as a superb reference to FP in general and F# specifically.

1. Introduction
2. How to Obtain, Install , and Use F#
3. Functional Programming
4. Imperative Programming
5. Object-Oriented Programming
6. Organizing, Annotating, and Quoting Code
7. The F# Libraries
8. User Interfaces
9. Data Access
10. Parallel Programming
11. Distributed Applications
12. Language-Oriented Programming
13. Parsing Text
14. Compatibility and Advanced Interoperation

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