> 2. Fun stuff to do with the basic repl > - some swing stuff > - copy and pastable code snippets > - some parallel stuff with futures or pmap or something > - something with the stm > - agents are cool, right? > - links to 4clojure and project euler
Kevin---- I think having a minimal 'tour' like this would be good; do any of the bloggers out there have anything that would be suitable? Mark Volkmann's page is pretty good, but it's comprehensive rather than selective. And try-clojure doesn't really go far enough in. I've edited the page a little bit to make it less prescriptive towards Clooj. http://dev.clojure.org/display/doc/Getting+Started+for+Beginners Note that if people are satisfied with java -cp etc., then they already got those instructions on the clojure.org page. I also put in a little link to that in case people come from somewhere else. I love command-line REPLs as much as the next person. I use Python as my calculator; just fire it up from any directory I happen to be in; it does everything! The problem is Clojure doesn't really \have this. From a select directory coming to a computer near you, java -cp clojure.jar clojure.main (if you can remember to type that) doesn't even give you command history (though if you want that, all you have to do is follow the instructions at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Clojure_Programming/Getting_Started#Enhancing_Clojure_REPL_with_JLine, simple!). There seem to be a variety of options in various stages of completion or abandonment for smoothing all this over (see http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Clojure_Programming/Getting_Started#Additional_Installation_Options), but should we recommend any of them as the first choice? I'm not even sure we should put up labrepl, because there are no instructions for running it (not at least anything that would be useful to a newcomer). My final problem with introducing people to java -cp etc. is really an aesthetic one: it makes it look like Clojure was released yesterday and primarily consists of rough edges and incomplete functionality. It's like Lily Tomlin's skit: We're the Phone Company, We Don't Care! It often seems that programmers say to users: We're Programmers, We Don't Care if you Understand! (Fellow programmers are users too.) What does java -cp really mean? Perhaps you would like to type man java and find out what those flags are, along with lots of others? Why do you need to type both the jar file name and .main? Care to spend a half hour on the Java site looking for an explanation? What do you do when you want to run Clojure in your own project directories? You're either supposed to know this or be prepared to dive around the Net and find out. The fact is, knowledge of Clojure has nothing to do with all these implementation details, but these unexplained things are the first thing a new Clojure user sees. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en
