Don Syme Explained

Don Syme is an Australian computer scientist and a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, Cambridge, U.K. He is the designer and architect of the F# programming language, described by a reporter as being regarded as "the most original new face in computer languages since Bjarne Stroustrup developed C++ in the early 1980s."^[1]

Earlier, Syme created generics in the .NET Common Language Runtime, including the initial design of generics for the C# programming language, along with others including Andrew Kennedy^[2] and later Anders Hejlsberg. Kennedy, Syme and Dachuan Yu also formalized this widely used system.^[3]

He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, and is a member of the IFIP working group on functional programming. He is a co-author of the book Expert F# 3.0.^[4]

In the past he also worked on formal specification, interactive proof, automated verification and proof description languages.^[5]

In 2015, he was honored with a Silver Medal from the Royal Academy of Engineering.^[6]

See also

• F Sharp Software Foundation

External links

• Don's Weblog on F#
• InfoQ Interview with Don Syme, 27 March 2009
• F# at Microsoft Research

Notes and References

1. Syme, Don. "Interview with Don Syme", Simple Talk, 19 January 2010.
2. Kennedy and Syme, http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=378797 "Design and implementation of generics for the .NET Common language runtime"
3. Kennedy, Syme, Yu http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=964005 "Formalization of generics for the .NET common language runtime"
4. Syme, Don et al. "Expert F# at Apress", Apress, November 2012.
5. Syme, Don. "Don Syme at Microsoft Research", 19 January 2010.
6. http://blogs.technet.com/b/inside_microsoft_research/archive/2015/07/01/microsoft-researcher-don-syme-honored-with-silver-medal-from-royal-academy-of-engineering.aspx "Microsoft researcher Don Syme honored with Silver Medal from Royal Academy of Engineering"