Get started with F# in Visual Studio for Mac
Important
Microsoft has announced the retirement of Visual Studio for Mac. Visual Studio for Mac will no longer be supported starting August 31, 2024. Alternatives include:
- Visual Studio Code with the C# Dev Kit and related extensions, such as .NET MAUI and Unity.
- Visual Studio running on Windows in a VM on Mac.
- Visual Studio running on Windows in a VM in the Cloud.
For more information, see Visual Studio for Mac retirement announcement.
F# is supported in the Visual Studio for Mac IDE. Ensure that you have Visual Studio for Mac installed.
Creating a console application
One of the most basic projects in Visual Studio for Mac is the Console Application. Here's how to do it. Once Visual Studio for Mac is open:
On the File menu, point to New Solution.
In the New Project dialog, there are 2 different templates for Console Application. There is one under Other -> .NET which targets the .NET Framework. The other template is under .NET Core -> App which targets .NET Core. Either template should work for the purpose of this article.
Under console app, change C# to F# if needed. Choose the Next button to move forward!
Give your project a name, and choose the options you want for the app. Notice, the preview pane to the side of the screen that will show the directory structure that will be created based on the options selected.
Click Create. You should now see an F# project in the Solution Explorer.
Writing your code
Let's get started by writing some code first. Make sure that the Program.fs file is open, and then replace its contents with the following:
module HelloSquare
let square x = x * x
[<EntryPoint>]
let main argv =
printfn "%d squared is: %d!" 12 (square 12)
0 // Return an integer exit code
In the previous code sample, a function square has been defined which takes an input named x and multiplies it by itself. Because F# uses Type Inference, the type of x doesn't need to be specified. The F# compiler understands the types where multiplication is valid, and will assign a type to x based on how square is called. If you hover over square, you should see the following:
val square: x:int -> int
This is what is known as the function's type signature. It can be read like this: "Square is a function which takes an integer named x and produces an integer". Note that the compiler gave square the int type for now - this is because multiplication is not generic across all types, but rather is generic across a closed set of types. The F# compiler picked int at this point, but it will adjust the type signature if you call square with a different input type, such as a float.
Another function, main, is defined, which is decorated with the EntryPoint attribute to tell the F# compiler that program execution should start there. It follows the same convention as other C-style programming languages, where command-line arguments can be passed to this function, and an integer code is returned (typically 0).
It is in this function that we call the square function with an argument of 12. The F# compiler then assigns the type of square to be int -> int (that is, a function which takes an int and produces an int). The call to printfn is a formatted printing function which uses a format string, similar to C-style programming languages, parameters which correspond to those specified in the format string, and then prints the result and a new line.
Running your code
You can run the code and see results by clicking on Run from the top level menu and then Start Without Debugging. This will run the program without debugging and allows you to see the results.
You should now see the following printed to the console window that Visual Studio for Mac popped up:
12 squared is 144!
Congratulations! You've created your first F# project in Visual Studio for Mac, written an F# function printed the results of calling that function, and run the project to see some results.
Using F# Interactive
One of the best features of F# tooling in Visual Studio for Mac is the F# Interactive Window. It allows you to send code over to a process where you can call that code and see the result interactively.
To begin using it, highlight the square function defined in your code. Next, click on Edit from the top level menu. Next select Send selection to F# Interactive. This executes the code in the F# Interactive Window. Alternatively, you can right click on the selection and choose Send selection to F# Interactive. You should see the F# Interactive Window appear with the following in it:
>
val square: x: int -> int
>
This shows the same function signature for the square function, which you saw earlier when you hovered over the function. Because square is now defined in the F# Interactive process, you can call it with different values:
> square 12;;
val it: int = 144
> square 13;;
val it: int = 169
This executes the function, binds the result to a new name it, and displays the type and value of it. Note that you must terminate each line with ;;. This is how F# Interactive knows when your function call is finished. You can also define new functions in F# Interactive:
> let isOdd x = x % 2 <> 0;;
val isOdd: x: int -> bool
> isOdd 12;;
val it: bool = false
The above defines a new function, isOdd, which takes an int and checks to see if it's odd! You can call this function to see what it returns with different inputs. You can call functions within function calls:
> isOdd (square 15);;
val it: bool = true
You can also use the pipe-forward operator to pipeline the value into the two functions:
> 15 |> square |> isOdd;;
val it: bool = true
The pipe-forward operator, and more, are covered in later tutorials.
This is only a glimpse into what you can do with F# Interactive. To learn more, check out Interactive Programming with F#.
Next steps
If you haven't already, check out the Tour of F#, which covers some of the core features of F#. It will give you an overview of some of the capabilities of F#, and provide ample code samples that you can copy into Visual Studio for Mac and run. There are also some great external resources you can use, showcased in the F# Guide.
