Resources for intermediate/not-absolute-beginner Clojurians

[Sam Raker]

I worked my way through Clojure Programming (Emerick, Carper, & Grand, O'Reilly), and I've started writing my own Clojure (porting over an unfinished Python project that seemed amenable to the Clojure treatment.) I really love the language, but I'm not sure where to go from here. 

My other main language is Python, which I learned in school, and also found a bunch of intermediate/non-introductory resources for, like the awesome, short, topic-oriented monographs (for lack of a better term) by Matt Harrison (e.g., http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Learning-Iteration-Generators-Python-ebook/dp/B007JR4FCQ/ref=sr_1_3). These really helped me understand some of the less-obvious/less-intro parts of Python, and the stuff I learned in school helped me learn what idiomatic Python looked/"felt" like. 

I'm just not sure what to do at this point in my Clojure learning experience. I've probably written a few thousand lines of Clojure at this point, but I'm not sure that I'm doing things "right:" I don't know if my code is efficient, or even idiomatic. I've know next to nothing about Java, and Clojure is my first introduction to functional programming. There are so many fun, exciting, awesome-seeming things in Clojure that I want to take advantage of, like reference types and futures, but I have no point of reference for them and feel like I'm having trouble wrapping my head around them.

I've come to realize that I learn best from books, and while code literacy is something I need to work on, "read the sourcecode [for library X]" isn't going to help me that much, unless it's aggressively commented/documented. I don't really want another intro book, since I'd rather not pay for too much overlap, and while I'll happily accept recommendations for application-/domain-specific books, I'm more looking for a deeper dive into the language itself. 

I'm being really difficult about this, and I'm sorry in advance. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks guys!

[Paul L. Snyder]

On Fri, 29 Aug 2014, Sam Raker wrote:

> I'm just not sure what to do at this point in my Clojure learning
> experience. I've probably written a few thousand lines of Clojure at this
> point, but I'm not sure that I'm doing things "right:" I don't know if my
> code is efficient, or even idiomatic. I've know next to nothing about Java,
> and Clojure is my first introduction to functional programming. There are
> so many fun, exciting, awesome-seeming things in Clojure that I want to
> take advantage of, like reference types and futures, but I have no point of
> reference for them and feel like I'm having trouble wrapping my head around
> them.

It sounds like you're at the perfect moment to hit up _The Joy of Clojure_.
The second edition came out recently, so it should be nicely current. My
copy of 2e is on my in-pile, so I can't yet comment specifically on the
updates, but its approach is aimed directly at what you seem to be looking
for: why Clojure is Clojure, and what you can do about it.

http://joyofclojure.com/

Paul

[Christopher Small]

+1 for JOC. It's a fantastic book.

Chris

[Gary Trakhman]

Eventually you'll have to come around to reading implementations. The Joy of Clojure is a very thoughtful book, but lib authors aren't going to go through the same amount of trouble.

Reading code gets easier and rewards faster  the more you do it.

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[Alex Miller]

Hi Sam,

I am working on a book for Pragmatic Programmers with Ben Vandgrift called "Clojure Applied" that is target specifically at people like yourself. Our goal is to bridge the gap between knowing the syntax and basics of the language to knowing how to apply it in building applications. The first half of the book is in tech review now and it will likely be a beta book in October or November with final release in early 2015. 

I would also certainly encourage you to read code and understand the libraries you use (or Clojure itself) at a deeper level! 

Alex

[Vladimir Bokov]

Great idea Alex! I'll be waiting for the book

воскресенье, 31 августа 2014 г., 1:58:18 UTC+7 пользователь Alex Miller написал: