Clojure: Fusion of Simplicity and Sophistication

Simplicity, power, flexibility, functionality, etc. The range of characteristics can be endless. This is Clojure. A great combination of pure simplicity and unbelievable functionality. The programming language with a highly reliable and impressive background (JavaScript and Lisp dialect); consequently, a versatile framework and rich set of capabilities.

Rich Hickey created Clojure in 2007 having in mind to make a difference to the world of programming and add more simplicity, flexibility, and speed to the sphere. Granting a long-lasting, boring, and slowly developing process a new vision and modernized capabilities were what the creator pursued. Clojure developers stress real pleasure they get during the development process with no evident disadvantages of the given language being noticed. The case is an exceptional one, isn’t it?

This year we have had exactly a decade since the very moment the first survey on Clojure was run by Chas Emeric. For that moment, there existed almost no companies that would use the language seriously (the absolute majority of developers had been practicing it for several weeks/months only). Nowadays, a decade later, Clojure-based product development is more and more frequently implemented in the world of programming. The progress is evident, and it is incredible.

Why ‘Clojure’? The very term was driven by the desire of its founder to combine three powerful languages (C#, Lisp, and Java), which stand for the letters C, L, and J respectively. Logically, the very name of the programming language under discussion implies the best features of the three most popular platforms and thus presents a perfect programming design.

Clojure: Five Myths and Facts. Where does the Truth lie?

In the article, we will go deeper and immerse our readers in the most popular beliefs and statements concerning the language nature and its key characteristics with minimum technical terms and developing insights. Simplicity but efficiency is a hidden motto of the article.

• Startups and early adopters are the ones winning with Clojure. Not exactly. A good number of giants, such as Facebook, Walmart, and so on, have experience working with Clojure for their project development and further practical implementation.

• Large teams of developers are needed to develop and support the applications. The real-life experience of the current companies proves the opposite. Few experienced engineers will work just fine.

• Clojure developers are rare in the IT market and due to that fact, it is not worth working with Clojure. Unfortunately, there is a grain of truth in the statement. Clojure developers are fewer than the other languages engineers. Nevertheless, this fact by no means lessens the value of Clojure. A ‘secret weapon’ of the language is its capability of finding smart developers on its own. What is more, usually, you need only a few of them.

• It is hard to master the language fully. Learning Clojure may take a while. Abundance of features, a variety of approaches while making a software solution may seem to be a real challenge. If one succeeds in handling it decently, he will be overwhelmed by the benefits to reap.

• Back-end only? Not necessarily. Nowadays, Clojure is a full-stack language with the same tooling on both programming sides.

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Achieving Success with Closure. Real stories 

There have been a good number of success stories while implementing Clojure. The companies are of various directions, statuses, and formats. What is more, they used or currently use the programming language for different aims and have achieved success in a wide array of spheres.

Everyone is familiar with Walmart, US retail corporation oriented at the international market. Did you know that the company’s administration had once opted for Clojure to create a data management system of secure and robust nature? The system developed support for several thousands of Walmart stores worldwide while integrating both online and mobile data.

Another bright example is Atlassian, an Australian software enterprise, which is currently using Clojure to develop real-time tools for collaboration and communication for both newly originated and existing before features. The company has recently announced the exciting results it witnesses with Clojure development and implementation.

Finally, AnyChart chose both Clojure and ClojureScript for their JavaScript libraries and documentation empowering and modernizing. Perfect Java language integration, codes sharing for front- and back-end platforms, considerable increase in development speed are the very features AnyChart emphasizes and stresses.

The examples provided above are a drop in the ocean only. There exists a good quantity of them. However, even this small amount of Clojure implementation cases appears to be a positive vector that speaks for itself: Clojure is gaining its place in the sun rapidly and confidently.

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