Don Syme Profile picture
GitHub Next. Co-creator F#, C# Generics, Async programming, Copilot for PRs. Find me on Mastodon. https://t.co/aIyoivIBGV
Nov 5, 2021 12 tweets 6 min read
Today we rolled out numerous improvements to the F# docs at docs.microsoft.com/dotnet

1. The F# Language Guide is now properly organized, from see docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/f… 2. The front page now features "F# in practice" including a new page on "F# for web development"

docs.microsoft.com/dotnet/fsharp/…

This includes links to some key frameworks plus a link to the F# Software Foundation guide to F# web development for more comprehensive community listings
Sep 10, 2021 35 tweets 8 min read
A farewell to Simon Peyton Jones as he leaves Microsoft Research

Subject: RE: New horizon
 
I would like to add a few words to what Chris has written.  I know I am also speaking for Mads, the current lead designer of C# (cc’d) From 1997 to 2015, Simon PJ was pivotal in the Programming Principles and Tools group at MSR Cambridge.  The work of that group included major contributions to the research and practice of programming, a stream of seminal publications,..
Sep 7, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
#fsharp people

One simple way to help F# is to help us fill in basic F# code samples for all the F# core library functions. These should have been done long ago, but let's do them now!

Here's an example of the sort of thing that needs to be added: github.com/dotnet/fsharp/… Once integrated, your examples will appear in the F# core library docs here fsharp.github.io/fsharp-core-do…
Jun 22, 2021 12 tweets 4 min read
I'm at #hopl and here is a potted history of the addition of what I call "computational modalities" to C# and F# - these include addition of new syntactic forms like comprehensions, or "modal" reinterpretation of existing syntactic forms. First, in 2000-02, Todd Proebsting of MSR initiated an effort to convince the C# design team to add iterator methods, based on his experience with the Icon language, of SNOBOL fame. Iterator methods serve as a form of computed collection. Image
Dec 5, 2020 9 tweets 2 min read
So this testimonial means a lot to me personally, I'll explain why.

@chaldal.com is a global company centred in Dhaka, Bangladesh. You can read more about them on their website.

I've long believed F# could have a strong role in up-tooling the software skills of developing nations, giving them a competitive advantage.
Dec 5, 2020 15 tweets 3 min read
This testimonial is so good, so thoughtful I'm going to tweet it all.

"We're an F#-first company and I'd like to share our experience here..."

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=253089… "All our new code is in F#, we started off from a C# codebase, so that made the transition somewhat manageable, as new F# code can be directly called from C#, and vice versa (still took over 2 years)..."
Aug 14, 2020 10 tweets 2 min read
It's really strange what nonsense people put up with in C#.

This business where expression results are implicitly discarded from statements is just insane in the 21st century. So much information loss just waiting to happen without even a warning. Other gaping holes in the C# design I've noticed this last week:

- no way to implement interfaces or abstract classes using an expression, meaning stupid extra classes

- no implicit construction for classes (to give another form of closure capture for object imlpementations)
Apr 5, 2020 9 tweets 2 min read
Exponentials still have the capacity to shock me.

If mass wearing of masks make just 0.01 shift in the spread per day, from say 1.22x to 1.21x, there would now be ~20% fewer cases (and ~20% fewer deaths) in the UK since March 12.

I had to double check that multiple times. This sort of result should have been hammered into our collective consciousness throughout February and early March. Every little effective intervention, widely adopted, saves many, many lives.
Mar 21, 2020 7 tweets 2 min read
This analysis of the last 12 days of UK decision making pretty much matches my guesses about what's been going on behind the scenes

buzzfeed.com/amphtml/alexwi… 12 days of infamy that will cost '000s of lives.

That Cummings and Vallance are allies doesn't surprise me at all. Things are on a slightly better track now but expect them to be back with herd immunity, and also to cover their tracks.

Mar 17, 2020 18 tweets 5 min read
The UK govt and modellers have finally realised there is a catastrophic flaw in the model they have been relying on for the last 6 weeks.

The modellers at Imperial (one of whom I met back in 2005) basically didn't factor in that this disease requires a very high number of intensive care beds. They have now admitted their mistake and the govt will move to suppression as their primary goal like the rest of the EU.