It's really not though. ClojureScript runs on Node.js just fine, and you have stuff like Lumo https://github.com/anmonteiro/lumo https://github.com/anmonteiro/l

It's really not though. ClojureScript runs on Node.js just fine, and you have stuff like Lumo https://github.com/anmonteiro/lumo https://github.com/anmonteiro/lumo for scripting, and even a full blown framework for web development https://macchiato-framework.github.io/ https://macchiato-framework.github.io/ The main advantage of keeping Clojure hosted is in being able to leverage the host ecosystem. It's simply not practical to implement an ecosystem comparable to the JVM or Node from scratch, especially for a niche language.