We are happy to announce the first Applied F# Challenge, organized by the F# Software Foundation!

F# is a general purpose open-source programming language. It originates from Microsoft Research and is used by many engineers across the globe. We primarily hear about people using F# for web development, analytical programming, and scripting. While those are perfect use cases for F#, there are many more brilliant and less covered scenarios where F# has demonstrated its strength. For example, F# is used in quantum computing, cancer research, bioinformatics, IoT, and other domains that are not typically mentioned as often.

The goal of the Applied F# Challenge is to publicize and promote in-depth technical publications and example code projects that demonstrate significant technical value and unique practical relevance for F#. Your submissions will help the F# Software Foundation to educate engineers across the globe about how F# can be used in advanced, innovative, and mission-critical scenarios.

The Applied F# Challenge is now accepting submissions for 2019! You are not required to be a member of the F# Software Foundation to participate in the challenge. The challenge is open, and we welcome participants from all across the world to send their Educational Submissions in the following categories:

F# for machine learning and data science

F# for distributed systems

F# in the cloud (web, serverless, containers, etc.)

F# for desktop and mobile development

F# in your organization or domain (healthcare, finance, games, retail, etc.)

F# and open-source development

F# for IoT or hardware programming

F# in research (quantum, bioinformatics, security, etc.)

Out of the box F# topics, scenarios, applications, or examples

Applied F# Challenge Dates

February 1 - May 20: Call for participants is open, participants submit their contributions.

May 20 - 25: The Applied F# Challenge Committee reviews and evaluates all submissions, and votes for winning submissions.

May 31: F# Software Foundation announces results.

How Does It Work And Why Should You Participate?

Read the full announcement, and participate in the challenge by filling out the participation form.

Each participant will contribute to the efforts to improve the F# ecosystem, and raise awareness of F# strength and its applications in uncovered and advanced use cases and scenarios.

Every participant who joins the F# Software Foundation will receive a guaranteed reward (fsharp.org stickers) for their efforts to increase awareness of powerful capabilities and applications of F#.

All submissions will be reviewed by the Applied F# Challenge Program Committee of F# experts, appointed by F# Software Foundation Board of Trustees. The purpose of the Committee is to select outstanding publications of uniquely substantial value in each category. The Committee members will vote to determine a limited number of winning publications in each category, based on their subjective opinion.

Winners will receive the title of a Recognized F# Expert by F# Software Foundation, an additional special non-monetary prize, and become permanent members of the F# Experts League consisting of winners from all years.

F# Software Foundation is grateful for the contributions to the F# community and will publish some or all submissions on the F# Software Foundation online resources, or include them in https://github.com/fsharp as a sample reference projects.

What is an Educational Submission?

An educational submission is any new F# publication, article, or an example code project (e.g. code repository published in a GitHub repository). If you choose to submit an example code project, make sure it is thoroughly documented.

You may submit any of your eligible published articles, blog posts, or example code projects, as long as it's new (published between Feb 1- May 20). You may also submit article that isn't published yet, but has been authored during those dates. The participation form will ask you for a link to your submission. The link can be to your article that is already online, a link to the article document you uploaded to some online or cloud storage, a GitHub repository link, or a link to the online code archive. There are a lot of options and it's up to you.

What are the eligibility criteria for the submission?

The submission is eligible for the Applied F# Challenge if:

It is new material, published for the first time during February 1 - May 20 of 2019.

It is authored by the challenge participants themselves (don’t submit publications authored by someone else).

It fits under one of the Applied F# Challenge categories.

It has in-depth technical information, contains comprehensive technical details, relevant code (or references to code in the external repository), and covers advanced and innovative F# use cases, scenarios, or applications.

The submitter grants the F# Software Foundation rights to publish and share the content on the F# Software Foundation online resources and social media. The author of the content will still own all the rights.

Can a submission come from a team of several people, rather than one individual?

No. This is an individual challenge.

Which submissions are ineligible for the Applied F# Challenge?

The submission is ineligible if:

The author/submitter is a member of the F# Software Foundation Board of Trustees or the Applied F# Challenge Committee.

The submission is targeted at marketing any product or company, instead of being focused on practical in-depth F# scenarios.

The submission covers a relatively common scenario on a high level. For example, “Getting started with F#”, or “Hello World in F# Web Development”.

Does the submission have to be academic, theoretical in nature?

It can, but it doesn’t have to be, it’s up to you! Practical real-world F# topics equally fit for the Educational Submission. There is a lot of general material about F# and its common applications. We specifically encourage submitting important but uncovered subjects that have little available information and examples.

How can I increase the chances of my submission to win?

Make sure your submission:

Shows major significance of the topic to the field and its practical relevance.

Is covered in-depth, with the extensive level of technical detail, and has useful examples.

Focuses on a relevant topic, which is generally uncovered, insufficiently covered, unique, outstanding, advanced, or hard to understand in relation to F#.

Is comprehensive and understandable.

Is there any preference for submitting an article or an example code project?

There is no preference. If your submission is an example code repository (e.g. on GitHub), make sure you have sufficient and readable documentation to follow your code examples as well.

The Applied F# Challenge 2019 Committee

The Challenge Committee is appointed by the F# Software Foundation Board of Trustees.

F# for machine learning and data science

Evelina Gabasova

Jamie Dixon

Colin Gravill

F# for distributed systems

Eirik Tsarpalis

Henrik Feldt

Riccardo Terrell

F# in the cloud (web, serverless, containers, etc.)

Isaac Abraham

Steffen Forkmann

Sergey Tihon

F# for desktop and mobile development

Fahd Abdeljallal

Greg Shackles

Jim Bennett

F# and open-source

Krzysztof Cieslak

Alfonso Garcia-Caro

Ryan Riley

F# for IoT or hardware programming

Bill Berry

Anthony Brown

Jamie Dixon

F# in your domain (healthcare, finance, games, retail, etc.) or organization

Scott Wlaschin

Rachel Reese

Greg Shackles

F# in research (quantum, bioinformatics, security, etc.)

Tomas Petricek

John Azariah

Darren Platt

F# out of the box

Don Syme

How many submissions can win in the Applied F# Challenge?

The Committee members judging each category will aim to choose one winner. When there are several comparably excellent submissions, the Committee members may choose up to 3 winning submissions per category. Categories allow for recognition of equally excellent and outstanding publications, articles, and example code projects across multiple areas of technical expertise. Most often efforts from different technical areas can’t be directly compared and fairly evaluated against each other.

In a situation when the Committee doesn’t receive any submissions or finds none of the submissions accepted for the reward in their category, that category can remain without the final winner.

Future of the Applied F# Challenge

This year's Applied F# Challenge is the first occurrence, and we would like to hold more of them in the coming years.

In case you’d like to make a submission, but the timelines of the Applied F# Challenge of 2019 don’t work for you - we encourage you to send us your submission anyway, anytime in 2019, and it will be counted for the future Applied F# Challenge.

After the first Applied F# Challenge is complete, we are planning to review the program, and ideally make the Applied F# Challenge open and accepting submissions all year long, with Challenge Committee evaluation happening every quarter.

Questions

Contact the Board of Trustees at board@fsharp.org if you have any questions.