How to contribute to the F# support in Xamarin Studio, Emacs and more

The purpose of this post is to mention where the F# language, compilation and editing support in Xamarin Studio comes from and how you can contribute to this tooling (and the same for Emacs too), and is posted on behlaf of Dave Thomas, a major F# commuity contributor.

As many readers will know, F# is available for use in Xamarin Studio.  With F# and Xamarin Studio you can currently, for example

  • Develop with F# on Windows or Mac
  • Develop Android and iOS applications.
  • Develop F# components to be used across multiple platforms, including components to be used in C#-fronted Android and iOS applications.

You can find out more about iOS and Android programming with F# here:

  • <fsharp.org/use/android/>
  • <fsharp.org/use/ios>
  • <fsharp.org/apps-and-games/>

Likewise, F# support is also available in Emacs through the Emacs MELPA package for F#. With F# and Emacs you can develop on Linux, Mac, Windows and other platforms.  You can find out more about Mac, Linux and cross-platform development with F# here:

  • <fsharp.org/use/linux/>
  • <fsharp.org/use/mac>
  • <fsharp.org/guides/mac-linux-cross-platform/>

The F# language tooling, on-the-fly-checking and editing support in Xamarin Studio and Emacs is based on the code in the "FSharpBinding" project. This project is "F# Editing Support for Open Editors" and incorproates components from the F# open edition.  For Xamarin Studio, a Xamarin Studio addin is pushed to <addins.monodevelop.com/> and picked up by versions with a commpatible version number. For Emacs, the packages are pushed to MELPA.

You can help plan the future of the FSharpBinding project by participating in the FSharpBinding User Voice.

The Xamarin Studio support for iOS and Android programming with F# is via two additional components called Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android. You can find the details from Xamarin here: <docs.xamarin.com/guides/cross-platform/fsharp/>.  These components include templates based on the sources here: https://github.com/xamarin/md-xamarin-fsharp-addins.

The FSharpBinding project is actively seeking more contributors and leaders. The main contributors to the FSharpBinding projects are

Please contribute to this great project and help bring F# to both Emacs users and 2.5 Billion devices.

Don