See, the way you think and try to describe the problem is right. But the point I am making is that often giving someone the correct answer doesn't help them mak

See, the way you think and try to describe the problem is right. But the point I am making is that often giving someone the correct answer doesn't help them make the mental connections they need to get the Eureka! moment of understanding about the fundamental nature of the topic. Just reiterating the same definitions over and over to someone is somewhat like talking to someone in Farsi who grew up in rural China and only speaks a local dialect of Mandarin. Sometimes we have to point at things and make funny baby noises so people can ramp up their learning. So when I said functions instead of forms, I did that because a) I don't understand the difference yet and b) that's not the point. I'm documenting how I, as someone new to both clojure and a stricter sense of functional programming, am starting to learn these concepts. Eventually I'll grok the Matrix and all of this will seem hopelessly simpleminded. But for me right now, this is where I am on the road.