I largely agree, what more do you need to get started than just a repl? writing functions and run them. The bells and whistles you get from various editors and ides are not a requirement for having fun writing functions and running them.
It is great to let people know how to get a good integrated Clojure setup in their favorite environment, but in no way is that needed to get started with Clojure. I think the big gap is what to do after you have gotten started, because Clojure brings in so many devs who are not familiar with the JVM. The on ramp for these devs is rocky because they often look down on Java and the copious amount of documentation for various parts of Java and the JVM. If we want to cater to these devs the best thing would be to add some introductory material about the classpath, jar files, and whatever else. On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 5:27 PM, jonathan.watmo...@gmail.com <jonathan.watmo...@gmail.com> wrote: > Is there any reason why the 'Getting Started' shouldn't essentially > follow > the form: > > 1. Download clojure and unzip > 2. Move to the folder and type 'java -cp clojure.jar clojure.main' in > a terminal > > For the sake of testing your new page, I downloaded clooj (ugly ugly > name) > and ran it. On trying to create a project, the first question after > specifying > a project folder was: > > Please enter a fully-qualified namespace > [ ] > > huh? This is hardly the kind of thing that's conducive to playing > about happily > discovering functional programming. Can I have multiple prompts in > clooj? Can > I easily pull in clojure files. Where do I specify other jars? > Classpath? > > There's a huge set of advantages to starting in a terminal: > > 1. You can *see* the line that starts Clojure. If something's broken, > you have > a starting point. > 2. You can easily add jars. > 3. You can start multiple terminal windows to try different things. > 4. You can use your preferred editors, anything from notepad+ up, > instead of > some incomplete 'IDE' [Note: without starting a project, typing in the > bottom > right window executed commands with the input and output sort of > interleaved, > but without my input shown against user=>, instead shown below it.] > > I'd suggest that having beginners to the language start off in a > terminal typing > into a REPL is absolutely the best possible thing. Packaging a > jReadline would > be smart too. > > Thanks, and I shall now go back into hibernation. > Jonathan > > > On Sep 2, 5:34 pm, Sean Corfield <seancorfi...@gmail.com> wrote: >> I think this is a much better on ramp for folks new to Clojure and the >> "bullet list" of the current "Getting Started" page really should be >> the "next page" not the first one. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 3:13 PM, nchurch <nchubr...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > There was some discussion about the Getting Started page last night at >> > the Bay Area meetup. I've put together an (I think) improved version >> > at >> >> >http://dev.clojure.org/display/doc/Getting+Started+for+Beginners >> >> > Any suggestions/additions/deletions? If this overall looks good, may >> > I replace the current page at >> >> >http://dev.clojure.org/display/doc/Getting+Started >> >> > with this one? I'd put the current page under "other options", >> > because it gives a lot of choices. >> >> > My hope was to give a relatively clean path for beginners (who are the >> > audience for Getting Started), instead of just throwing everything >> > there is at them without comment. Someone who has been around Clojure >> > for a while knows that Lein is much more standard than Gradle, but to >> > a reader of the current Getting Started page they look the same. > > -- > 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 -- And what is good, Phaedrus, And what is not good— Need we ask anyone to tell us these things? -- 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
