F# for Scala Developers

Like Scala, F# is a hybrid functional and object oriented language which runs on a managed runtime. It's free as in speech and beer, open source (Apache 2.0 license), and cross-platform (Linux, Solaris, OSX, Windows, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Xbox). You may be surprised to hear that it's from Microsoft.

It's been said that Scala is an object oriented language which supports functional programming, and F# is a functional programming language which supports object orientation. It's a member of the ML family of languages, which go back to the University of Edinburgh in the early 1970s. This family also includes OCaml. If you like Scala's type inferencing and pattern matching, you may like F#. The compiler and runtime support tail call optimization, something currently missing on the JVM. There's also support for database access, web frameworks, GUI libraries, and domain specific libraries such as those for finance and math.

There are even more parallels between Scala and F#. Martin Odersky is known for bringing generics to Java, and Don Syme (F#'s creator) did the same for .NET. Martin serves on the technical advisory board for MSR Cambridge, the home of F#. Don did a sabbatical in Martin's lab in 2007. So, there's quite a bit of cross-pollination and mutual support going on.

Microsoft is firmly behind functional programming. For example, Haskell's Simon Peyton-Jones also works at MSR Cambridge just a few doors down from Don. Though it's still a research project, there are a quite a few Microsoft employees working on Haskell. Of course as a shipping product, F# has excellent IDE integration and has a 10 year support commitment from Microsoft.

The speaker, Matt Harrington, is a programmer in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF. He organizes SF#: The San Francisco Bay Area F# User Group.

LinkedIn is kindly providing facilities and pizza for the event. Check below for information and map:

http://tinyurl.com/BaseLinkedIn

The room is the main big presentation area called "Unite" at 2025 Stierlin Ct. just up the stairs past the entrance.
As you enter from Shoreline Blvd, and drive down Stierlin, this building will be on your right BEFORE you get to the big courtyard.

There will be some time for lightning talks prior to the main talk, so if you have something you want to talk about - come prepared to give us 5 minutes on it.

Thanks, and see you there. Please plan to arrive a little early.