fsharp / fsharp/fslang-suggestions

Top level F# progams - implicit async and access to command-line args

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Description

# Top level F# progams - implicit async and access to command-line args

See https://github.com/dotnet/fsharp/issues/11631 and https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/fundamentals/program-structure/top-level-statements for more detailed explanation

In C# 9 we can write code such as this

```cs
using System.Net.Http

using var httpClient = new HttpClient();
var str = await httpClient.GetStringAsync("https://example.com/");
Console.WriteLine(str);
```

You can also access `args` from top level statements which you can't do from F#.

The existing way of approaching this problem in F# is:

There's no good way. See this comment https://github.com/dotnet/fsharp/issues/11631#issuecomment-855052325

## Pros and Cons

The advantages of making this adjustment to F# are: shorter, easier code. No need to remember code such as this

```fs
let theAsyncTask : Async = ...

[]
let main argv =
async {
do! Async.SwitchToThreadPool ()
return! theAsyncTask
} |> Async.RunSynchronously
```

The disadvantages of making this adjustment to F# are: I don't see real disadvantages.

## Extra information

Estimated cost (XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL): I don't know what the cost is.

Related suggestions: https://github.com/dotnet/fsharp/issues/11631

## Affidavit (please submit!)

Please tick this by placing a cross in the box:
* [X] This is not a question (e.g. like one you might ask on [stackoverflow](http://stackoverflow.com)) and I have searched stackoverflow for discussions of this issue
* [X] I have [searched both open and closed suggestions on this site](http://github.com/fsharp/fslang-suggestions/issues) and believe this is not a duplicate
* [X] This is not something which has obviously "already been decided" in previous versions of F#. If you're questioning a fundamental design decision that has obviously already been taken (e.g. "Make F# untyped") then please don't submit it.

Please tick all that apply:
* [ ] This is not a breaking change to the F# language design
* [ ] I or my company would be willing to help implement and/or test this

## For Readers

If you would like to see this issue implemented, please click the :+1: emoji on this issue. These counts are used to generally order the suggestions by engagement.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Start by reading the linked F# issue 11631 and the C# top-level-statements documentation to understand the proposed language behavior. Done would mean F# top-level programs can use implicit async operations and access command-line arguments without the existing EntryPoint and Async.RunSynchronously pattern.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
fsharp
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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