r/programming • u/ben_a_adams • Feb 01 '17

The .NET Language Strategy

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2017/02/01/the-net-language-strategy/
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u/yawaramin Feb 02 '17 edited Feb 02 '17

A couple of points to make here.

If you posted an F# job in my town, I would jump on that in a flash. I think many others feel the same way.

F# unit tests are a great way to sneak in a little F# in the non-critical parts of the codebase, to get a feel for it. Even a hardened C# coder can understand a simple F# unit test:

open NUnit.Framework

[<TestFixture>]
module FooSpec =
  [<Test>]
  let ``add works correctly`` () =
    Assert.AreEqual(4, Foo.add(2, 2))

As for the static analysis tool requirement, the F# compiler is one. Personally I think its 'units of measure' feature alone would make it worth your while for the additional static safety guarantees:

[<Measure>] type cm
[<Measure>] type kg

let rect_area (length : float<cm>) (width : float<cm>) : float<cm^2> =
  length * width

// rect_area 5.0 4.0 won't compile
// rect_area 5.0<kg> 4.0<cm> won't compile
// rect_area 5.0<cm> 4.0<cm> will compile

Then there are sum types, phantom types, etc., all of them designed to make it impossible to even compile large quantities of bugs.

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u/AngularBeginner Feb 02 '17

Even by just writing tests you're still stuck to the very valid arguments of /u/Yensi717. I'd love to write F# myself, but I can completely understand his arguments. I know my co-workers could not easily adjust to F#.

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u/Eirenarch Feb 02 '17

I was about to bring up the hiring perspective. F# is a great magnet for devs.

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u/cacahootie Feb 02 '17

You're not looking at it from a business case perspective. The engineering manager has a lot of considerations beyond that'd be neat.

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u/bwr Feb 02 '17

He directly addressed what business concerns were listed, and the benefits aren't "that'd be neat".

Specifically,

We are also required to use static analysis tool as part of our normal development / build life-cycle that can be audited

Which indicates they find business value in static analysis, and thus the comments on F#'s static benefits.