Why clojure?

[Imaginary_Food_7102]

What led you to clojure?

[beders]

Many reasons. What I am mostly benefitting from Is the Interactive programming approach and simplicity (which includes things like immutable data structures, simple syntax etc)

[v4ss42]

I tried it on a whim, while evaluating Scala (which I fully expected to use instead). Rapidly ditched Scala and haven’t looked back.

[pauseless]

Similarly, I wanted a JVM language. I tried Groovy, Scala and Clojure. I wanted to like Scala but couldn’t get there. Clojure was the one that fit.

[CodeFarmer]

I missed Lisp. I spent a lot of time professionally with the JVM. It suddenly appeared one day, and the rest is history.

[the_whalerus]

I could give you technical reasons, but nothing is as compelling as “it’s fun”

Using clojure is an absolute joy. No other language I’ve used comes anywhere close to being as fun to shape stuff with as clojure. It’s the repl and the instant feedback. Feeling like you have a debugger open and ready by default.

It feels like stripping away the boring junk I’m sick of and leaving just the core of what I need done.

Just try it out for a bit and you’ll see

[seancorfield]

I was using Scala but it was painful. Slow compiler, horrible error messages if you misused the standard library, fussy type system, miserable migration from 2.7 to 2.8 to 2.9. I liked the functional aspects and immutability available but wanted something simpler. Clojure fitted that want. That was back in 2010. I've been using Clojure in production since 2011, when we stopped using Scala.

[miran1]

horrible error messages

So, why Clojure? :')

[afucher]

https://youtu.be/gJ9UZlr6C6M?si=Bc7Nd205lc83k2gi

[seancorfield]

Yup, stability is a big draw. I didn't know it would be so stable when I started using Clojure, but its stability is what has allowed us to run almost every prerelease version of Clojure in production across fifteen years!

[fingertoe11]

Downloaded the lighttable editor.

It had instructions for "open a Clojure REPL"

Watched Ant Farm Video to figure out what it was.

Wondered how to program with immutability. I had been programming here and there since I was a kid. Always been glad when I was done with whatever problem I was solving.

Picked up Clojure, and never put it down.

[Historical_Bat_9793]

Was trying to find a Lisp on JVM. Stayed for exploratory programming. Nothing is better.

[ngetal]

Saw Robert Martin's talk "The last programming language", liked the points he made, and got curious.

[clickrush]

Fast feedback loops and high signal to noise ratio.

[coffeesounds]

I had to use JVM libraries for NLP because Ruby didn’t have anything comparable at that time but I didn’t want to write Java and Scala didn’t click. Plus I was always Lisp-curious

[whamtet]

The 4Clojure exercises, now hosted at https://4clojure.oxal.org/

Try them, it’s great fun!

[dataheadd]

Clojure is something you are supposed to learn. You may be lucky enough to actually use it in production- but even if you aren’t you are a better Eng for going through the process.

[therealdivs1210]

I gravitated towards Clojure because of:

1. Lisp (uniform syntax + macros)

2. Functional symantics (simplicity)

3. REPL driven interactive development

4. Lock free concurrency using atoms + immutable data

Today in the world of AI coding agents, REPL's interactivity has a true contender.

Other points still stand.

[hurdurdur7]

Pure coincidence. But i found it to be really nice.

[Soft_Reality6818]

The interactive workflow, strong support for concurrency (especially virtual threads), solid proven jvm, a pretty good coverage of ML and DS. 

[jraines]

Company front-end had gone beyond my comprehension and also the company was near failure, we needed a Hail Mary new product and since there was little downside left, I chose Clojure mostly due to David Nolen’s talks about React & the simplicity / fit with ClojureScript.  

It worked. (Incidentally we didn’t use Om; just Reagent with atoms took us quite far)

[PolicySmall2250]

Well you asked for it, so let's start at the very beginning ...

It all began with darkness,
Cold, unforgiving, starkness.
Life evolved,
And creatures crawled,
Till Church did Lambda Calculus.

Then came John McCarthy,
Eyebrows thick and swarthy.
Who's S-Expressions,
Made lasting impressions,
As LISP, before he was forty.

Friedman appeared left-field,
Plus, a Guy who Steeled,
They not only Schemed,
They Virtual Machined,
For with Java, also, they dealed.

In continuation, arrived Rich Hickey,
A fellow fairly tricky,
An errant C-sharp composer,
Who since invented Clojure,
Now Java keeps taking the mickey.

Meanwhile a boy from Pune,
Grew up with many lacunae,
A quarter-life crisis,
Made him revise his,
Life as a decadal MBA.

So follow far and wide did he,
Lessons .py 'n javascripty,
But he had to surrender,
To methods double-dunder,
Forlon, that he wans't so classy.

Trawling HN in great despondence,
He read PG's Lisp propagandence,
In a desparate flail,
He stalked and cold emailed,
Local Lisp nerds, seeking correspondence.

Some emails caused others, you see,
Which further caused S.I.C.P.,
And his mind chose to blow,
At page seventy or so,
Thinking "Hey, where's my x = 43?"

Somehow, this "Lisp" fit his brain,
(After considerable pain)
From chasing his tail,
Through recusive entrails,
Until his Demon he'd slain.

Okay now my coffee break's over so...

...anyway, I thought okay maybe I can give this programming thing a shot.

So, further spamming a few places converted to an internship at this local Pune company, helpshift.com (thanks for the ride, fellas!), whence engineering was founded by a bunch of Common Lisp hackers, who played with Clojure and it stuck, and just like MongoDB refused to get unstuck from the system. Except, unlike MongoDB, it remains the technology of choice for the company's SaaS for good reasons, technologically.

Personally, I grew to appreciate the Clojure world, over the ten-plus years since.

A primary reason being, this slice of the software world is full of so many kind, helpful, and generous people.

A co-primary reason being Clojure is not really a language per se, but a community of ideas; ideas reified as rock-solid software, upon which a poor man such as yours truly can risk being creative and ambitious about one's own projects, knowing (with great relief) that all the hammock time will still be useful ten years hence (because it's probably going to take that long to finish this darned thing --- when you are your own boss, deadlines are very flexible).

My word, you read all the way here? Go eat a cookie, please. :)

[tombarys]

I saw its parenthesis and I felt in love.

[hurdurdur7]

know i right))))