The new version will feature substantial improvements to the language that have been developed in collaboration with users. Tools will include an open source compiler toolchain for .NET Framework and Core, with Linux, Mac, and Windows support.
In addition, Visual F# Tools will receive incremental fixes and integration into the new Visual Studio installation process. Roslyn Workspace support is on the way, with the hope that it will “be able to offer a more modern editing experience.”
Users will also benefit from support for editing and compiling .NET Core and Framework. This support may not come with the RTM of Visual Studio “15” but will be one of the first updates.
Wider Support
Microsoft is working with other communities to ensure that F# 4.1 support will come to a wide range of tooling:
- “The Xamarin team at Microsoft are actively incorporating F# 4.1 support into the F# support in Xamarin Studio.
- The Mono packaging team is updating the packages available to include F# 4.1.
- The F# community is integrating F# 4.1 support in the F# Compiler Service component, used by many editing and compilation tools.
- We are working with the F# community to help update the F# support in the Visual F# Power Tools and ensure it works smoothly with the next release of Visual Studio.
- The F# community are already actively integrating support for F# 4.1 into support for Visual Studio Code and Atom through the Ionide project.
- The F# community are integrating support for F# 4.1 into many other tools, include Fable, an F# to ECMAScript transpiler, and into the F# support for Emacs and Vim.”
Developers can try out F# 4.1 now by using pre-release versions of the F# compiler tools for .NET Core. Using the GitHub resources, the current Visual F# Compiler can also be built from source. The full details are available on the Microsoft blog.
