F# - Structures | fsharp Tutorial

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A structure is a compact object type that can be more efficient than a class for types with a small amount of data and simple behavior.

Structures are value types, which means that they are stored directly on the stack.
Unlike classes and records, structures have pass-by-value semantics.
So it means that they are useful primarily for small aggregates of data that are accessed and copied frequently.

You can define structures in two different ways, as shown below.

[ attributes ]
type [accessibility-modifier] type-name =
    struct
        type-definition-elements-and-members
    end
// or
[ attributes ]
[<StructAttribute>]
type [accessibility-modifier] type-name =
    type-definition-elements-and-members

The first syntax is not the lightweight syntax, but it is nevertheless frequently used because, when you use the struct and end keywords, you can omit the StructAttribute attribute, which appears in the second form.
You can abbreviate StructAttribute to just Struct.
Structures can have constructors and mutable and immutable fields, and they can declare members and interface implementations.

The following example demonstrates the usage of a structure.

type Rectangle =
    struct
        val Height: float
        val Width: float
        new(x: float, y: float) = 
            { Height = x; Width = y }

        member this.GetArea() = this.Height * this.Width
    end


let rectangle = new Rectangle(3.0, 5.0)
Console.WriteLine("Area: {0}", rectangle.GetArea())

When you execute the above code, it will display the following output on the console.

Area: 15

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