With this in-depth tutorial, F# team member Chris Smith introduces you to Microsoft's new multi-paradigm programming language. You'll not only learn how to use F# as a general-purpose language similar to C# and Visual Basic, but as a functional programming language for developing concurrent and math-intensive applications on the .NET platform. "Programming F#" gives you a head start on the fundamentals and advanced concepts of the official F# language version that will ship with Visual Studio 2010. This book will help you: get a clear understanding of functional programming, and how you can use it to write better code; learn language-oriented programming with F#, a style that lets you write code tailored to the domain of your application; use advanced F# concepts, such as having an existing .NET routine execute in parallel without having to write plumbing code to manage the threads; and, implement design patterns in F# for both object-oriented and functional programming Chris Smith tests every element of F# for the Microsoft development team, giving him a unique command of the language. With "Programming F#", you'll benefit from his expertise right away.