Category: F#
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Record Linkage Algorithms in F# – Jaro-Winkler Distance (Part 2)
Last time we dove into the Jaro distance algorithm and picked apart how each of its components are calculated. However, from a modern perspective Jaro alone is a rather weak method of string matching. It was Winkler’s extension that brought this algorithm into widespread modern use. Matthew Jaro’s insight when inventing the Jaro distance algorithm was that…
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Record Linkage Algorithms in F# – Jaro-Winkler Distance (Part 1)
When first approaching the task of record linkage I was initially overwhelmed by the huge number of different algorithms available for comparing strings. Now I know that the secret to finding your way in this sea of algorithms is two fold. First, know that many are outdated and have newer and better implementations, so they can be…
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The Road to Functional Programming in F# – From Imperative to Computation Expressions
In F# there are a lot of options when it comes to choosing the style in which you will perform a computation. So, for our last meeting of the the NYC F# User Group I decided to try and build a general understanding of how the different styles are related to each other through trying…
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F# Code and Slides to Share
As I mentioned in my most recent edition of F# Discoveries This Week, it’s Code Camp season and it would be great to see more F# users out there sharing the love. To help out, I’ve provided the slides from my previous talks in one place under the Creative Commons Attribution license. I even left all of my…
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An F# Ant Colony Simulation in Silverlight 4.0 with Dynamic AI Loading
I’ve been enviously watching Phillip Trelford publish excellent F# games all week and tonight I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I stayed in, rolled up my sleeves and ported the very same ant colony simulation I used in my CUFP workshop to Silverlight 4.0. <Silverlight Demo was Here, but unfortunately no longer works> Wow, just look at those little…
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In Retrospect: The F# in Education Workshop
I was taking the elevator down after getting settled in my hotel room and as the doors opened I was awestruck by the sight of Don Syme sitting on a couch, typing away on his laptop. With a bit of trepidation I walked up to him and introduced myself. It was immediately obvious that he…
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A CUFP Tutorial, F# Day at the … Oh God, Ants!
Everyone was ready for a nice relaxing day at the beach when they showed up for my CUFP tutorial… So, after realizing how boring it would be teach thirty flavors of factorial to experienced functional programmers for four hours, I thought I’d spice things up a bit. AI is always fun and I do love ants, so why…
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Learning F# for Fabulous Prizes
Nearly a month ago I visited the NYC ALT.NET User Group in Manhattan. Having been told by Steve Bohlen that I was up against a particularly sharp audience, I decided to do something much different than I had in any of my previous talks. Spread throughout my slides were questions. Those who answered correctly first were given…
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The Ted Neward F# Folding Challenge
My friend, and fellow Professional F# 2.0 author, Ted Neward recently challenged me to a bit of a Code Kata. Take a list of numbers and compress it in a particular simple way but without any mutable state. What makes this problem interesting is that a tech interviewer mentioned that that he hadn’t seen a functional solution to this problem.…
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Speaking Online at the Community For F#
In a moment of rash confidence, and possibly food-coma induced delirium, late last week I volunteered to give my F# for Testing and Analysis presentation for the online Community for F#. The online talk will be on Tuesday, March 16th 2010 at 1PM EST. The reason I am now feeling a bit of trepidation is that I agreed to…