Displaying and visualizing data is essential to get a better understanding of its characteristics. Also, data is at its core in quantitative finance. F# is a sharp tool for data analysis and visualization. A majority of the functionalities of visualization and user interfaces comes from the .NET platform. Together with the exploratory characteristics of F#, especially through F# Interactive, the combination becomes very efficient and powerful.
Let's start out by using F# Interactive to create a form that will display data feed to it. This means we will have a form that can change the content at runtime, without the need for recompiling. The controls in the form are also interchangeable:
// The form
open System
open System.Drawing
open System.Windows.Forms
let form = new Form(Visible = true, Text = "Displaying data in F#",TopMost = true, Size = Drawing.Size(600,600))
let textBox =
new RichTextBox(Dock = DockStyle.Fill, Text = "This is a text box that we can feed data...