Chapter 15. The Languages Ecosystem

The .NET language ecosystem is alive and well. With literally hundreds of languages (you can find a fairly complete list here: www.dotnetpowered.com/languages.aspx) targeting the .NET Framework, .NET developers have a huge language arsenal at their disposal. Because the .NET Framework was designed with language interoperability in mind, these languages are also able to talk to each other, allowing for a creative cross-pollination of languages across a cross-section of programming problems. You're literally able to choose the right language tool for the job.

This chapter explores some of the latest languages paradigms within the ecosystem, each with particular features and flavors that make solving those tough programming problems just a little bit easier. After a tour of some of the programming language paradigms, we use that knowledge to take a look at a new addition to Microsoft's supported language list: a functional programming language called F#.