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Very nice, I've been wanting to get into Clojure, but not having a functional background I've found it hard to jump into anything. This looks easy enough that

Very nice, I've been wanting to get into Clojure, but not having a functional background I've found it hard to jump into anything. This looks easy enough that I could transition in slowly, I think I'll give it a try.

DrJokepu 15y ago
As a side note, I've found that a very good way to familiarize yourself with a new programming language and its underlying concepts is by solving first 40-50 problems in Project Euler with the language: http://projecteuler.net/ http://projecteuler.net/
- rednum 15y ago
  While PE is great keyboard exercise and includes many cool puzzles, I think it is bad way of rewiring your brain for functional thinking. Unless you'll do some exercises that explicitly require new ways of thinking (and read something), you'll probably end up struggling with writing java code in clojure. I advice to do some FP course and then solving some problems in functional way - when you already know the way.
rednum 15y ago
If you need functional background, you could try SICP - there is also a clojure version being developed. I took an Ocaml course on my uni 'strongly inspired' by SICP and I must say that it pretty much rewired my brain for functional.
jm4 15y ago
I have been doing mostly OOP for several years. I read just about every Clojure book out there, but the functional thing just wasn't clicking. It's a weird feeling. I knew the language, but didn't know how to design a program in a functional style. Maybe part of it is that most of the Clojure books available don't really cover this. Then I read "Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!" Eureka! I have never written a line of Haskell, but I feel like reading that book made me better using other languages. http://learnyouahaskell.com/chapters http://learnyouahaskell.com/chapters
- mark_l_watson 15y ago
  I would recommend reading books like "Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!" with an open repl. I find it is too difficult to remember new language features until I type and run code. I agree that learning Haskell as a prelude to learning Scala and Clojure might not be a bad idea (I blogged about this a few days ago).
wildwood 15y ago
Running through the Clojure Koans (on Github) is another great way to get some basic familiarity with the language.

DrJokepu 15y ago

As a side note, I've found that a very good way to familiarize yourself with a new programming language and its underlying concepts is by solving first 40-50 problems in Project Euler with the language: http://projecteuler.net/ http://projecteuler.net/

rednum 15y ago
While PE is great keyboard exercise and includes many cool puzzles, I think it is bad way of rewiring your brain for functional thinking. Unless you'll do some exercises that explicitly require new ways of thinking (and read something), you'll probably end up struggling with writing java code in clojure. I advice to do some FP course and then solving some problems in functional way - when you already know the way.

rednum 15y ago

If you need functional background, you could try SICP - there is also a clojure version being developed. I took an Ocaml course on my uni 'strongly inspired' by SICP and I must say that it pretty much rewired my brain for functional.

jm4 15y ago

I have been doing mostly OOP for several years. I read just about every Clojure book out there, but the functional thing just wasn't clicking. It's a weird feeling. I knew the language, but didn't know how to design a program in a functional style. Maybe part of it is that most of the Clojure books available don't really cover this. Then I read "Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!" Eureka! I have never written a line of Haskell, but I feel like reading that book made me better using other languages. http://learnyouahaskell.com/chapters http://learnyouahaskell.com/chapters

mark_l_watson 15y ago
I would recommend reading books like "Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!" with an open repl. I find it is too difficult to remember new language features until I type and run code. I agree that learning Haskell as a prelude to learning Scala and Clojure might not be a bad idea (I blogged about this a few days ago).

wildwood 15y ago

Running through the Clojure Koans (on Github) is another great way to get some basic familiarity with the language.