I don't think anyone would claim that Clojure is an easier Lisp, if anything it is harder. Programming in Common Lisp or Scheme is very simple. Clojure on the other hand is like CL or Scheme with additional cognitive demands on the programmer to think about functional and concurrent programming. Since functional programming is optional in other lisps (it is optional in Clojure too, but idiomatic Clojure seems to imply functional style mainly), and good options for concurrency don't seem to really exist in other lisps, this additional complexity is a good thing, and it probably becomes second nature after a while.
On Mar 22, 4:26 pm, Joshua Fox <joshuat...@gmail.com> wrote: > I dove into Lisp and Scheme several times in the past, but only with Clojure > did Lisp really "catch"? > 1. Clojure abandons the 1950's cruft, with all-caps and abbreviations like > SETQ and CDR. However, Scheme does this too, without achieving the ease of > Clojure. > > 2. Clojure is typically illustrated with simple, practical examples. Other > Lisps are often introduced as tools for theory. Not that there's anything > wrong with that, like they said on Seinfeld. On the other hand, Clojure's > examples are often, for better or worse, somewhat more sophisticated than > the typical examples used for teaching other languages. > > 3. Clojure has some syntax choices that make it more readable. It specifies > the use of fewer parentheses and uses three types brackets rather than just > parentheses. However, some dialects of Lisp do allow the mixture of bracket > types for visual variety. > > 4. The connection to Java, even if not essential to most introductory > examples, provides a "lifeline" for the user. > > 5. Even though pure-functional is not what most programmers are used to, > once you learn it, it makes everything else easier; in contrast to > non-pure-functional Lisp dialects > > Any other thoughts on this? > > Joshua --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
