Why Doesn't F# Have Windows Forms and ASPX Projects?

Why Doesn't F# Have Windows Forms and ASPX Projects?

I'm looking at F# projects in Visual Studio 2013 Preview. I notice that there still is no Windows Forms project and no ASPX web page. In previous versions of Visual Studio, I figured that maybe F# needed to be further developed and would have these projects in later versions of Visual Studio.

But now I am thinking that this is by design and intention for F#, that it be limited to creating various computational libraries and not for GUI forms or website interface. Is this true?

What is it about the nature of F# that makes it unsuitable for Windows Forms programming? Is there something that F# cannot do or something that would make F# too awkward to do a whole Windows program in F#?

These code-behind/designer facilities rely on the CodeDOM APIs; and there's not an implementation of that in the F# core. There is one in the power-pack, but it is just the raw CodeDOM without the Visual Studio wiring for the specific uses.

So, it could be done, it's just a question of priorities -- new features like type providers rather than productizing obsolescent teohnologies like CodeDOM, which is stuck at net 2.0 equivalent.

Copyright © 2007-2012 www.chuibin.com Chuibin Copyright