F# 4.0 Design Patterns

Operators as functions

What is an operator, thinking abstractly? It can be seen as a function of one or two arguments that just have a concise name represented by a single symbol or a very few symbols. F# heartily supports this abstraction. For example, take a look at the following expression:

(%) 10 3 = 10 % 3 

Here, on the left-hand side of the equality sign (=), the (%) function is called with the arguments 10 and 3. On the right-hand side of the equality sign (=) just a 10 % 3 expression is present. Evaluating the whole expression in FSI shows its value as true because sub expressions on the left and right of the equality sign (=) are indeed identical.

Furthermore, the equality sign (=) itself is also an operator. Evaluating the equality sign ...