Real World Functional Programming

01/11/2011 · No Responses

Functional programming languages like F#, Erlang, and Scala are attracting attention as an efficient way to handle the new requirements for programming multi-processor and high-availability applications. Microsoft’s new F# is a true functional language and C# uses functional language features for LINQ and other recent advances.

Real World Functional Programming is a unique tutorial that explores the functional programming model through the F# and C# languages. The clearly presented ideas and examples teach readers how functional programming differs from other approaches. It explains how ideas look in F#-a functional language-as well as how they can be successfully used to solve programming problems in C#. Readers build on what they know about .NET and learn where a functional approach makes the most sense and how to apply it effectively in those cases.

The reader should have a good working knowledge of C#. No prior exposure to F# or functional programming is required.

What’s Insite

Thinking the functional way
Blending OO and functional programming
Effective F# code

Table of Contents
Part 1: Learning to think functionally
Chapter 1. Thinking differently
Chapter 2. Core concepts in functional programming
Chapter 3. Meet tuples, lists, and functions in F# and C#
Chapter 4. Exploring F# and .NET libraries by example

Part 2: Fundamental functional techniques
Chapter 5. Using functional values locally
Chapter 6. Processing values using higher-order functions
Chapter 7. Designing data-centric programs
Chapter 8. Designing behavior-centric programs

Part 3: Advanced F# programming techniques
Chapter 9. Turning values into F# object types with members
Chapter 10. Efficiency of data structures
Chapter 11. Refactoring and testing functional programs
Chapter 12. Sequence expressions and alternative workflows

Part 4: Applied functional programming
Chapter 13. Asynchronous and data-driven programming
Chapter 14. Writing parallel functional programs
Chapter 15. Creating composable functional libraries
Chapter 16. Developing reactive functional programs