Zurich FSharp Users

F# Computation Expressions in Practice

Nov 29, 2012 · 6:45 PM
NetException GmbH

Hi all,

the date of our next meetup is Thu, Nov. 29, 2012.

As usual, we meet at NetException GmbH near the Zurich-Altstetten train station. Some food and beverages will be served from 18:45. The talks start at 19:15 and end at 21:00. If you come for the first time, please take the map on page two of this document with you to make sure that you find us directly.

The meetup will be about F# computation expressions (also referred to as workflow expressions or monads) in practice. I will begin with a brief overview. After that, James Litsios will present an example related to modular pure state management. Finally, Daniel Egloff will present a case study related to Alea.Cuda, a new F# product for processing on the GPU, which Daniel's company, QuantAlea, has created in the context of a project at Bank Sarasin. I would like to thank James and Daniel for their highly valuable inputs.

Monads were introduced in the early 90es in Haskell. Many years later, mainstream OO languages started to hard-wire specialized versions into the compilers, such as (in C#/VB.Net ) the support of nullable value types (2005) (but we still don't have non-nullable reference types!), iterator generators (2005), Language Integrated Query (2007), or the new async/await syntax (2012). The introduction of these features was simplified by the fact that Simon Peyton Jones and Erik Meijer, two leading contributors of Haskell, work for Microsoft.

On the other hand, in F#, monadic syntax has followed a single unified concept from the beginning, and it can be customized as needed. I find it very intriguing to have this flexibility in an industry-supported multiparadigma language. It nicely fits F#'s motto "simple code to solve complex problems".

I am looking forward to a fascinating, expressive evening! Until then, all the best,

Marc

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Madu A.

very cool!

0 · May 31, 2013
Daniel E.

QuantAlea would like to offer free personal licenses to the participants of this F# users group meeting. Check out the news section http://www.quantalea.net/news/ of our web site for more information how to qualify for a free license.

Give it a try and let us know how you get along with it.

0 · January 28, 2013
Stephan M.

Cool, really cool :-)

0 · November 30, 2012
Roman B.

stateful maybe/option monad : detailed, all variations, step by step refactored to the max, excellent

ALEA.CUDA : good GPU explanation, F# CUDA state monad, fast rapid CUDA prototyping in F#

0 · November 30, 2012
Ed L.

It was an interesting meet up, although hard to understand for new-bees like me. Especially Daniel Egloff's live-product presentation was very impressive to me.
I'm looking forward for the next meet up.

0 · November 30, 2012
James l.

Just to mention that I mostly will focus on explaing how things work and only finish with "lifting states". I have definitly enjoyed putting the presentation together, so let's hope it works!

0 · November 22, 2012
Ahoo

Hi there, as a newcomer I was wondering, are your meetups open to all? Also, is there anything else I need to know?

Thanks!

0 · October 22, 2012
- Marc S.
  
  Hi Ahoo. Yes, open to all. However, if you bring guests, please either have them sign on here, or send me a mail so I know the total number of participants. Anything else to know... Some basic knowledge about F# or other functional languages doesn't hurt, but is not strictly necessary. Looking forward to seeing you soon :)
  
  0 · October 22, 2012
- Ahoo
  
  Great, thanks a lot for your response. I'm certainly hoping to make it to this meetup, but if I can't manage it then the next one will be a must. =)
  
  Cheers!
  
  0 · October 22, 2012