Clojure for Unix Hackers

SeaGL 2017 Oct 6 at 10:45

Intended Audience

Unix hackers, sysadmins, and developers; especially those skeptical of the JVM and node.js. Anyone interested in functional programming, lisps, or data oriented programming.

Audience Takeaways

• Basic understanding of Clojure and functional programming
• Appreciation of sympathetic philosophies between Unix and Clojure
• Introduction to scripting with Clojurescript

Motivation

Clojure is a modern functional, expressive, and data-oriented lisp. However it runs atop the JVM, CLR, and Javascript runtimes. Sometimes seen as bloated, slow, and “something we have to install for developers”, this talk aims to show that not only is Clojure(script) fun, performant, and pragmatic, but it also has a lot in common with Unix and can be a useful tool for scripting, server-side development, UI work, and more!

Outline

Intro to Clojure

• Intro and motivation
• Brief history of Lisp
• Whirlwind tour of Clojure
• Functional Programming

Comparisons to Unix

• REPL driven development
• Data oriented programming
• Pipelines and unix philosophy

Scripting with Clojurescript

• Intro to Clojurescript
• Bootstrapped Clojurescript and Planck/Lumo
• Script Examples

Beyond Scripting

• Browser
• Electron
• Server
• React Native

Conclusion and References

Presenters