Consultant and teacher Harrop expects F# to become one of the world's most popular functional programming languages for scientists of all disciplines, and not only because it is free. Along with full illustrations and simple examples, Harrop provides well-written information on program structure, data structures, numerical analysis, input and output, simple examples, visualization, optimization, libraries, databases, programming guidance and interoperability. He also describes F# algorithms (up to an advanced level of complexity), arrays, lists, tables, maps and possible problems readers may encounter in the operating environment, along with possibilities for applications. For those requiring more information about specialized applications he includes a comprehensive bibliography. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)