Technical Term: FFI

Source-Level Dependency Resolution

The Firefly compiler represents a fundamental shift in how F# code gets compiled to native executables. Unlike traditional F# compilation that relies on pre-compiled assemblies and the .NET runtime, Firefly compiles F# directly to native code through MLIR and LLVM, creating truly dependency-free executables. This architectural choice creates an interesting challenge: how do we handle library dependencies when we can’t rely on traditional assembly resolution? Beyond Assembly-Based Dependencies Traditional F# development uses a well-established pattern where open statements resolve to compiled assemblies in NuGet packages.