Microsoft Power Fx

Not to be confused with PowerFX.
Microsoft Power Fx
ParadigmLow-code, general-purpose, imperative, strongly typed, declarative, functional
Designed byVijay Mital, Robin Abraham, Shon Katzenberger, Darryl Rubin, Greg Lindhorst, Mike Stall
DeveloperMicrosoft
First appeared2021; 3 years ago (2021)
Typing disciplinestrong
LicenseMIT License
Websitedocs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/power-fx/overview
Influenced by
Excel functions, Excel macros, Pascal, Mathematica, Miranda

Microsoft Power Fx is a free and open source low-code, general-purpose programming language for expressing logic across the Microsoft Power Platform.[1][2][3]

It was first announced at Ignite 2021 and the specification was released in March 2021.[4][5] It is based on spreadsheet-like formulas to make it accessible to large numbers of people.[6] It was also influenced by programming languages and tools like Pascal, Mathematica, and Miranda.[7]

As Microsoft describes the language, it heavily borrows from the spreadsheet paradigm. In a spreadsheet, cells can contain formulas referring to the contents of other cells; if the user changes the content of a cell, the values of all its dependent cells are automatically updated. In a similar fashion, the properties of components in a Power Fx program are connected by formulas (whose syntax is very reminiscent of Excel) and their values are automatically updated if changes occur. For instance, a simple formula may connect a component's color property to the value of a slider component; if the user moves the slider, the color changes.[8]

The initial formula language was created by a Microsoft team led by Vijay Mital, Robin Abraham, Shon Katzenberger and Darryl Rubin as part of the Tangram and Siena projects.[8][7] Later, as part of Power Apps, Greg Lindhorst and Mike Stall led the effort to enhance the language to what is now become Power Fx. Power Fx is available as Open-source software.[9] The source code was shared under MIT license by Microsoft on November 2. 2021.[10] Only the documentation was originally open source.[11]

In the April 2024 feature update, Microsoft introduced two new Copilot features for Power Fx: Explaining a Formula and Generating Power Fx from Natural Language. These features aim to simplify the use of Power Fx by providing natural language explanations and generating formulas from user input.[12]

  1. ^ Anderson, Tim (2021-03-02). "Excel-lent: Microsoft debuts low-code Power Fx language... but it is not really new". The Register. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  2. ^ Melanson, Mike (2021-03-06). "This Week in Programming: Microsoft's Power Fx 'Low Code' Language". The New Stack. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  3. ^ Moorhead, Patrick. "Microsoft Build And Power Platform - Navigating Change, And The Role Power Technology Can Play". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  4. ^ Jawad, Hamza (2021-03-02). "Microsoft confirms the launch of Power Fx, its new low-code language". Neowin. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  5. ^ Vizard, Mike (2021-03-08). "Microsoft Open Sources Low-Code Power Fx Language". developer.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  6. ^ Wyciślik-Wilson, Sofia (2021-03-03). "Microsoft Power Fx is an open source, low-code programming language". BetaNews. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  7. ^ a b Lardinois, Frederic (2021-03-02). "Microsoft launches Power Fx, a new open source low-code language". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  8. ^ a b "Microsoft Power Fx overview - Power Platform". docs.microsoft.com. 2021-02-26. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  9. ^ "GitHub - Microsoft/Power-Fx: Power Fx low-code programming language". GitHub.
  10. ^ "Greg Lindhorst: Power Fx: Open source now available". 2021-11-02.
  11. ^ "Microsoft Power Fx overview - Power Platform". learn.microsoft.com.
  12. ^ "What's new: Power Apps April 2024 Feature Update". Microsoft Power Platform Blog. 2024-05-01. Retrieved 2024-07-09.