CODEWITHSUNDEEP
f#
royco
royco

Reputation: 5529

What exactly is "bigint" in F#?

I understand that bigint is not a function but rather a type constructor. That's why this fails:

// Won't compile
let foo = 10 |> bigint

I understand that I can create a new function which accepts an integer and returns a bigint, and then the pipeline operator will work.

However, I don't understand why this works:

let bar = bigint 10

If bigint is a type constructor, why don't I need new? Where exactly is bigint defined as an alias to System.Numerics.BigInteger's constructor?

Upvotes: 10

Views: 6217

Answers (1)

desco
desco

Reputation: 16782

bigint is type abberviation for System.Numerics.BigInteger so when you type 

let x = bigint 10

you actually create instance of BigInteger. In F# new is optional in constructors, basically it should be used when creating instances of types that implement IDisposable

Upvotes: 9

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