On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 3:04 AM, HB <hubaghd...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Do you suggest that I read "Programming Clojure" first and then trying > to study the source code?
That's a fine option. The book may be a shorter path to *practical* knowledge. > What is the best place (file, package or what ever) to start reading > the source code? As bOR_ suggested, core.clj is a great place to start: http://code.google.com/p/clojure/source/browse/trunk/src/clj/clojure/core.clj Or an unofficial mirror with syntax highlighting: http://github.com/kevinoneill/clojure/blob/310155ffd520987278262ca641ece6149a77555f/src/clj/clojure/core.clj At one time, reading that was the best way to learn clojure. There are now many more tutorials, examples, and of course Holloway's book, but especially if you *want* to read code, that's a good place to start. While a lot of Clojure's features are implemented there, a good many are also implemented in java. You'll find in reading core.clj that it frequently calls static methods of RT.java. It also calls into the various collection (hash, vector, set, etc.) and reference (agent, ref, atom, var) classes, which are largely independent of each other. All this makes core.clj a good place to start, as it can lead you to the others as you go along. It may not, however, lead you to LispReader.java or Compiler.java. The former is for consuming a Java IO Reader and producing Clojure objects to be macroexpanded and compiled, so read that if you want to learn how Clojure parses text. The latter gleans deeper knowledge about the structure of Clojure expressions and produces Java bytecode -- not for the faint of heart. One thing to keep in mind when reading core.clj is that some Clojure idioms are impossible at the beginning of the file, as the tools they need haven't been created yet. So don't take all of it as necessarily the best way to write your own Clojure code. --Chouser --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
