Sneak peeks into the new F# project system, part one

We’re getting closer to the next major release of F#: our first CTP release out of Developer Division.  As a result, now is a good time for me to start talking about some of what I’ve been working on for the past few months: the F# project system.  Over the coming weeks I’ll describe some of the new-to-F# project system features we’ll deliver in the CTP, providing a "sneak peek" at what’s coming.

For today, I’ll just give an overview of some of the high points, and in subsequent blog entries, I’ll dive down into the details of these features.  The most noteworthy project system features I can think of are (in no particular order):

• New F# project & item templates (for ‘New Project’ and ‘Add New Item’)
• An ‘Add Reference’ dialog similar to C#’s, including project-to-project references
• Support for linked items (‘Add Existing Item’… ‘Add as Link’)
• Support for folders and for reordering files within the project
• Project property pages similar to C#’s
• F# projects realized as ‘.fsproj’ files that work with MSBuild
• Some new features regarding scripts (.fsx files)

Here’s a teaser screenshot…