You're right, of course. I should have said JVM instead of Java. That said, in reality, JVM bytecode is tied pretty closely with Java. The bulk of a program: m

You're right, of course. I should have said JVM instead of Java. That said, in reality, JVM bytecode is tied pretty closely with Java. The bulk of a program: method calls, types, loops, etc all map pretty much 1:1 with what Java emits - there's not a whole lot of room for improvement. And if there were, it would probably be through MORE static typing and compile-time analysis, not less. I expect that for any arbitrary Clojure program you give me, I can write a Java program that will execute as fast or faster. Of course, it might take me ten times as long to write and have ten times the amount of source code.