Installation of F#

To get start with learning F#, the first thing you need to do is to install it in your own computer so that you can try it out by yourself.

Here are the steps:

1. Download F# September 2008 CTP (Community Technology Preview)
2. Download .NET Framework 2.0
3. Download Visual Studio Shell 2008 (if you don't have Visual Studio 2008 Standard or above)

You should install .NET, VSS and F# in sequence.

Note that in the step 3, when you execute the downloaded binary, it actually expands into a directory. You have to run the setup inside again.

Although Visual Studio Shell is optional, it is highly recommended to be installed as it provides a more interactive environment for you to try out the code segments.

You should install VSS first so the F# can be integrated into the Shell. Note that Visual Studio Shell does not provide Windows Forms designer (but actually you can still create forms programmatically).

Try the following Hello World program and hit F5:

#light
printfn "Hello, World"

Congratulation for writing your first F# program ! You are now at the entry of the wonderland of F#.

One more thing - if you are like me as a Mac user (or you are a Linux person), you can actually install F# in Mac (and Linux) as well by using Mono 2.0 because F# is actually implemented in .NET !

Read this post for more information.

As I write this post, Mono 2.0 has just been released on Oct 6, 2008.


Reference:

http://research.microsoft.com/fsharp/manual/install.aspx