On Jul 8, 2011, at 10:29 AM, James Keats wrote: > May I also add the following caveat emptors: > - If you're new to programming, clojure will overwhelm you. Start with > something like python.
I disagree. This is a subject of religious debates that I don't want to get into in detail, but FWIW this educator thinks that Lisp is a perfectly defensible first language and that Clojure can serve the purpose quite well as long as installation and tooling doesn't make it unnecessarily difficult to write and run code. > - If you come from python/ruby and have no java background, do not > expect to start "hacking" clojure in the morning and be "productive" > and accomplishing work in the afternoon of that same day; go learn > java for a while first (a few months at least). Also, continue using > whatever it is you use now till you're confident you know enough to > jump ship. > - we can't teach you java, please go learn java for a while if you > have no java experience, there are tons and tons of tutorials and > books on teaching you java. Disagree and disagree. One can do a lot in Clojure with almost no knowledge of the Java language or the Java ecosystem. At least for the kinds of things that I do. Yes, I occasionally need to use an interop form for something for which there's no Clojure version, but for me that's rare and easy to pick up on a case by case basis without being a Java programmer. > - if all you need is a "hello world" program, there are simpler > languages for this purpose (python etc). Consider clojure if you have > need for java apis or concurrency needs (concurrency is an advanced, > low level topic and not something most programmers should concern > themselves with). Disagree. Nobody *just* wants to write "hello world," of course, but Clojure can be a great language for many people who have zero need for Java APIs or concurrency. I use/teach it because of all of the great features of Lisps more generally, and because Clojure is the best Lisp going (IMHO). > - and so on... I think it's important to have such caveat emptors, it > seems many of the complaints relate to expectations mismatched to > reality Maybe, but since I disagree with every one of your caveats I wouldn't advocate making them :-0. -Lee -- 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 Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. 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
