F# in Finance conference

On Monday 25th November I attended the F# in Finance conference at the Microsoft offices in London. I was drawn to this single day conference as I have been learning about functional programming for some time now. I am also interested in the finance sector as it seems paradoxical to me. On the one hand it appears to have ageing IT systems and an ardent use of Excel.  This seems like a bizarre way to run any business let alone a financial institution. On the other hand they can be at the forefront of innovation in software development. Indeed it is arguably the biggest commercial adopter of functional programming so far. So, I was keen to hear how this industry was changing and to learn if there were any lessons I could use in my own programming.

The day consisted of 10 talks, an ambitious goal for a single day. The most interesting theme that I picked up on was how productive many of the speakers felt when writing F# compared to C#. Jon Harrop and Phil Trelford both talked about how modelling complex domains was vastly simpler in a functional language than in an object oriented one. Phil explained how the energy trading system he maintains has a domain model which is just a single, two hundred line file. If this were to be implemented in an object oriented language the model would span hundreds of classes.

From the discussion about domain modelling it appears that functional languages are better at separating the data from the behaviour. This is still abstract in my mind so I have much to learn. What is more concrete for me are the language features that help productivity. When asked in a panel session, the speakers said that a lack of null values, immutability and the built in actor model are the main benefits when using F#. A lack of null values and immutability seem like an obvious gain. Null reference errors are a very common error in most systems. Mutated state is also a source of pernicious bugs. A rogue branch of code can create havoc to a well tested system if it alters some piece of state. The actor model is a higher level construct also aimed at limiting state changes in a system and in F# it is called the MailboxProcessor.

F# in Finance was a fantastic day of very focused presentations from some superb presenters. Functional programming is a clear fit for the finance sector where the domain can often be modelled in algebraic terms. Given that this is a sector where any competitive edge means vast profits I am sure the uptake of functional programming will only increase. It is good to see F# and, consequently, the CLR gaining a foothold. Thanks to the presenters I now have a clearer understanding of the advantages of functional programming and will be investigating further to see how I can improve my programming skills.