Published: Aug. 16, 2011
Words: 29,945 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781465750051

Short description

In this book we present the functional language F# with a particular focus on fun applications such as simulations and games. We will see a series of entertaining examples: a bouncing ball, the Saturn V rocket, an asteroid field and a starship battle. In the last two chapters we will build a rendering system in XNA that renders the previous samples in 2D and 3D with input and audio.

Extended description

In this book we present the functional language F# for those who wish to learn it with a particular focus on fun applications such as simulations (physics, AI, etc.) and games. Of course F# is a general purpose programming language, and even if in this book all the samples are geared towards simulations nevertheless the techniques and constructs used are more than enough to tackle most other real-world problems. Also notice that until the last chapter we will not use any special gaming related libraries; rather we will limit ourselves to the standard F# libraries.

We will use a very hands-on approach to development: each chapter opens with a sample problem, such as simulating a bouncing ball, a rocket, an asteroid field, etc. The source code of the solution is given and then all the constructs used are discussed in depth in the rest of the chapter.

Most of the samples (not those found in the last chapter, which require XNA 4.0) work on Windows, MacOSX and Linux thanks to Mono.

The.. (Read more) In this book we present the functional language F# for those who wish to learn it with a particular focus on fun applications such as simulations (physics, AI, etc.) and games. Of course F# is a general purpose programming language, and even if in this book all the samples are geared towards simulations nevertheless the techniques and constructs used are more than enough to tackle most other real-world problems. Also notice that until the last chapter we will not use any special gaming related libraries; rather we will limit ourselves to the standard F# libraries.

We will use a very hands-on approach to development: each chapter opens with a sample problem, such as simulating a bouncing ball, a rocket, an asteroid field, etc. The source code of the solution is given and then all the constructs used are discussed in depth in the rest of the chapter.

Most of the samples (not those found in the last chapter, which require XNA 4.0) work on Windows, MacOSX and Linux thanks to Mono.

The book is recommended for programmers who are already familiar with an imperative programming language; a little bit of knowledge of object-orientation may help in the latest chapters, but it is by no means required. The book may also be read by complete beginners to programming, but in that case the reader should expect to have to *study* the book and not just read it; studying the materials of the book though is not particularly unexpected, given their origin: both authors teach Computer Science with F# and games at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, and thanks to this we have already battle tested many of the examples and the general approach used in the book. Chapter 5 in particular should be of interested even for advanced (functional) programmers, given the in-depth treatment of computation expressions (monads) for creating small languages embedded inside F#.

We have tested all samples with F# 2.0 and XNA 4.0.
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Tags

programming, games, xna, simulations, visual studio, fsharp, functional programming, game programming, game development, programming languages, simulation programming, net, mono, monodevelop, giuseppe maggiore, giulia costantini

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Reviews

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Review by: Rob Rosenbaum on April 14, 2012 :
The dots make the code unreadable. I don't know what else to say. I can't read the code in this book. Whose idea was this, and have they ever tried to read this code?
(reviewed the day of purchase)

Review by: Stefano Casillo on Feb. 28, 2012 :
Please fix the "." as spaces in the source code. The book is REALLY PAINFUL to read with those.
One of F# strong selling point is the elegance of the source code, this book make the language look TERRIBLE with that formatting.
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: Andrew McVeigh on Jan. 03, 2012 :
Guiseppe - great book, thanks for making this.

However, is there any chance of getting an alternative pdf version without the "."'s for spaces? They really put me off when looking at the code.
(reviewed the day of purchase)

Review by: Paolo Contessi on Dec. 29, 2011 :
I haven't read it yet, just skimmed but i liked it.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

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