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The reason for the clojure user base having an experienced majority is that is overwhelming and tedious for an inexperienced programmer to use Clojure to accomp
by Scarbutt 8y ago
The reason for the clojure user base having an experienced majority is that is overwhelming and tedious for an inexperienced programmer to use Clojure to accomplished things, the "you already should know how that works and how to do that, roll your own" mantra dominates, in contrast to JS/Python, where there are good learning resources for almost everything you want to accomplished (for things that have already been done).
There is just way more hand holding in these massive communities (JS/Python).
Another big reason is that if you want to write production level code in Clojure, you have to know Java and its APIs well, the same for Clojurescript and Javascript, making the barrier to entry much bigger.
So yes, IMO, right now Clojure is a language meant for experienced developers and my guess is that will remain so.
The good thing is, Clojure and Rich brought some good concepts to mainstream use. He did a good marketing job.
- cmiles74 8y agoI'd like to highlight that knowledge of Java makes working with Clojure a lot easier. I think you can probably get pretty far by picking the right libraries and being careful, but eventually a mistake will be made and understanding Java makes it that much easier to track down the issue. I can't go back and test my theory (I've been doing Java for what feels like a century) but I feel like it will be difficult for people without a Java background to get a production Clojure project off the ground.
- saosebastiao 8y agoClojure was my first JVM language. It indeed was a nightmare. The java underpinnings affect everything you touch. Trying to use a library that didn't have a stable wrapper was terrible...you have to essentially learn two languages at the same time.