fsharp_intro.md

FSharp intro

Why

Less code, little to no C# like source bloat because of:

• Type inference
• Automatic generics
• Functions instead of methods
• seqs and tuples + unpacking (a'la python)
• pattern matching ("switch case" that matches types & unpacks)
• modern, tasteful syntax (esp. vs C# / Java / JS): Indentation based blocks, no semicolons, less (braces)
• |> operator (no need for "extension methods", code reads left to right)

Demo 1:

• Connect to mssql db with type provider
• Get groups
• Get users + associated groups
• Display stuff + refactor

Demo 2:

• Show records + type inference
• Show automatic generics
• show seq {} + pattern matching

Some additional ideas:

• Option Type: No Null
• Units of Measure: Type-safety for numbers
• Type Providers: Automatic generation of types for things like JSON
• Async: like C# async/await probably a mention that async {..} and seq {...} are things you could build yourself (Computation Expression)

The mention of the Option type could be part of the "Why". by the way, some other small "why" reason why i like F#: Currying, Partial Application, Unit type (no void), everything is an expression.

Type-safety could be a small demo on it's own. Like some calculation with money, weights and so on.

Async + Type providers could be a demo that downloads a JSON/CSV file from a website and do some basic calculation with it.