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* Welcome Amit Rathore

 
author & internet detective
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This week, we're delighted to have Amit Rathore helping to answer questions about the new book Clojure in Action.

The promotion starts Tuesday, May 24th 2011 and will end on Friday, May 28th 2011.

We'll be selecting four random posters in this forum to win a free copy of the book provided by the publisher, Manning.

Please see the Book Promotion page to ensure your best chances at winning!

Posts in this welcome thread are not eligible for the drawing.
 
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Welcome Amit. Please enjoy your visit to the ranch.

Henry
 
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Thanks, looking forward to interacting with folks interested in Clojure!
 
Ranch Hand
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Welcome Amit


I would like to know what all other languages (their syntax, concepts etc.) have been referred throughout this book. Asking this because I think, one should know all the basic pre-requisite knowledge before he start reading this book.

Thanks,
Hemant
 
Amit Rathore
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As you can imagine, since Clojure is a JVM-based language, there's considerable reference to Java. There are a few references to other dynamic languages such as Ruby.

From a pre-req perspective, as long as you know programming, and the Java language, you'll find it easy. Even if you're not super-familiar with Java, you'll get along fine since I cover relevant topics.

There's no need to be familiar with LISP, or any need for previous experience with functional languages. I cover all relevant topics here, from beginner to intermediate/advanced levels.

Hope that helps!
 
Greenhorn
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Hi Amit,

From my quick search in wikipedia, it seems that Clojure is a dialect of LISP that is mainly used only for artificial intelligence. How is this book relevant to those who are not programming AIs?

Thanks.
 
Sid Kar
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And what is the need for Clojure and LISP when we have programming languages like C++ and Java already?
 
Amit Rathore
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LISP was (and is) used for a lot more than AI. Some of the most advanced software in the world uses LISP, even today. Here's an account of LISP being used for something we may all be familiar with: e-commerce web-sites: Beating the Averages

Clojure is an modern LISP with several distinct advantages - it runs on the JVM (which gives it instant access to thousands of battle-tested libraries and frameworks), it is functional (which means core data-structures are immutable), and has support for multi-core concurrency (with an elegant implementation of software transactional memory or STM).

Each of these features makes it really powerful in the hands of a skillful user. Being a LISP, it also has complete support for Macros, which is a secret weapon in its own right.

These are just some of the reasons why it's worth learning and using Clojure. My own startup, Runa, is an all-Clojure shop. We've built some incredibly powerful software with a team of just 5 engineers. There are a lot of similar success stories. Also, the Clojure community is amazingly friendly and helpful!
 
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I am interested in learning a functional programming language but I can't decide which to try, clojure and f# are the two that I am particularly interested in, I was wondering if you could outline the benefits of clojure compared to f#? I feel more naturally inclined to clojure as it is JVM based. Also how closely based is clojure on lambda calculus, as I have recently completed a university course on lambda calculus and found it very interesting.
 
Henry Wong
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Hi... it is possible to start new topics for new questions? We have the whole forum outside of this welcome topic...

Henry
 
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Welcome Amit!
 
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Please be sure to start new topics for questions. Questions posted in this topic are NOT, repeat NOT, eligible for the book drawing!
 
Amit Rathore
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See you guys on the other threads!
 
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