ClojureScript: Up and Running

Preface

Who Should Read This Book

This book is for software developers who want to learn how to get started using ClojureScript to build web browser applications. This book will not assume any prior knowledge of ClojureScript. We do assume that you have at least a basic working knowledge of the core JavaScript language. For the sections of this book that deal with ClojureScript in a web browser, we assume you are familiar with HTML, CSS, the DOM, and how they are manipulated in JavaScript.

While this book will not assume any prior knowledge of Clojure, it is not designed to be a comprehensive reference to the Clojure programming language. We will explain Clojure language concepts in ClojureScript as they become important, but we also recommend picking up a book on Clojure for a more thorough guide to the language. The authors of this book wrote Practical Clojure (Apress, 2010) and O’Reilly has released Clojure Programming by our friends Chas Emerick, Brian Carper, and Christophe Grand.

How to Use This Book

This book is both a how-to guide for using ClojureScript and a tutorial on the language itself. We have arranged the chapters in what we felt was the best order for someone who is completely new to the language but wants to get started quickly. If you already know Clojure or ClojureScript and just want advice on development tools and workflow, focus on Chapters 2, 3, 7, 9, and 10. If you want to dive into the language right away, start with Chapters 4 through 6 before reading about the development process.

Chapter 1, Introduction: Why ClojureScript?

In this chapter, we lay out the motivation for ClojureScript: why it exists and what role it is designed to fill.

Chapter 2, Hello World

In this chapter, we work through a complete, albeit trivial, ClojureScript application. We introduce Leiningen, the lein-cljsbuild plug-in, and how to use ClojureScript in an HTML page. We save explanation for later chapters, but this chapter should be enough to get your first ClojureScript code “up and running.”

Chapter 3, The Compilation Process

This chapter goes into the ClojureScript compiler in detail, explaining how it works, most of the configuration options it supports, and how it integrates with the Google Closure Compiler.

Chapters 4 through 6 cover the basics of the ClojureScript language itself. Although not a complete guide to every corner of the language, they cover most of the features that are required for everyday programming. Because ClojureScript and Clojure are so similar, we recommend books about Clojure to learn more about the language.

Chapter 4, ClojureScript Basics

This chapter introduces the essential syntax and control structures of the ClojureScript language including functions, bindings, scope, and interoperation with JavaScript.

Chapter 5, Data and State

This chapter covers the primitive and composite data structures of ClojureScript, and shows how to work with them in programs. In particular, it explains ClojureScript’s approach to immutability and state management.

Chapter 6, Sequences

This chapter introduces Lazy Sequences, an important data structure in ClojureScript that makes up a substantial portion of the standard library.

Chapter 7, Namespaces, Libraries, and Google Closure

This chapter covers namespaces as a feature of the ClojureScript language and also explains how files are organized in ClojureScript projects. We go into detail about how the Google Closure Compiler affects the use of libraries in ClojureScript projects, and provide a detailed flowchart for determining how best to use any particular library.

Chapter 8, Macros

This chapter introduces macros, an advanced language feature provided by ClojureScript.

Chapter 9, Development Process and Workflow

This chapter covers a variety of alternative methods for working with ClojureScript code apart from the workflow we have used elsewhere in the book. We demonstrate some tools packaged with ClojureScript itself, including command-line compilation scripts and the ClojureScript Browser REPL (bREPL).

Chapter 10, Integration with Clojure

This chapter briefly demonstrates what can be achieved by combining Clojure and ClojureScript in the same application.

Conventions Used in This Book

The following typographical conventions are used in this book:

Italic

Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames, and file extensions.

Constant width

Used for program listings, as well as within paragraphs to refer to program elements such as variable or function names, databases, data types, environment variables, statements, and keywords.

Constant width bold

Shows commands or other text that should be typed literally by the user.

Constant width italic

Shows text that should be replaced with user-supplied values or by values determined by context.

Tip

This icon signifies a tip, suggestion, or general note.

Caution

This icon indicates a warning or caution.

Using Code Examples

This book is here to help you get your job done. In general, you may use the code in this book in your programs and documentation. You do not need to contact us for permission unless you’re reproducing a significant portion of the code. For example, writing a program that uses several chunks of code from this book does not require permission. Selling or distributing a CD-ROM of examples from O’Reilly books does require permission. Answering a question by citing this book and quoting example code does not require permission. Incorporating a significant amount of example code from this book into your product’s documentation does require permission.

We appreciate, but do not require, attribution. An attribution usually includes the title, author, publisher, and ISBN. For example: “ClojureScript: Up and Running by Stuart Sierra and Luke VanderHart (O’Reilly). Copyright 2013 Stuart Sierra and Luke VanderHart, 978-1-449-32743-9.”

If you feel your use of code examples falls outside fair use or the permission given above, feel free to contact us at [e-mail].

Safari® Books Online

Note

Safari Books Online (www.safaribooksonline.com) is an on-demand digital library that delivers expert content in both book and video form from the world’s leading authors in technology and business.

Technology professionals, software developers, web designers, and business and creative professionals use Safari Books Online as their primary resource for research, problem solving, learning, and certification training.

Safari Books Online offers a range of product mixes and pricing programs for organizations, government agencies, and individuals. Subscribers have access to thousands of books, training videos, and prepublication manuscripts in one fully searchable database from publishers like O’Reilly Media, Prentice Hall Professional, Addison-Wesley Professional, Microsoft Press, Sams, Que, Peachpit Press, Focal Press, Cisco Press, John Wiley & Sons, Syngress, Morgan Kaufmann, IBM Redbooks, Packt, Adobe Press, FT Press, Apress, Manning, New Riders, McGraw-Hill, Jones & Bartlett, Course Technology, and dozens more. For more information about Safari Books Online, please visit us online.

How to Contact Us

Please address comments and questions concerning this book to the publisher:

O’Reilly Media, Inc.

1005 Gravenstein Highway North

Sebastopol, CA 95472

800-998-9938 (in the United States or Canada)

707-829-0515 (international or local)

707-829-0104 (fax)

We have a web page for this book, where we list errata, examples, and any additional information. You can access this page at http://oreil.ly/ClojureScript.

To comment or ask technical questions about this book, send email to [e-mail].

For more information about our books, courses, conferences, and news, see our website at http://www.oreilly.com.

Find us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/oreilly

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/oreillymedia

Watch us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/oreillymedia

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank everyone involved in the development of ClojureScript as an open-source project, especially its creator, Rich Hickey. Thanks also to our technical reviewers Brenton Ashworth, Michael Fogus, and David Nolen, and to all our readers who sent in notes and corrections on early drafts. Finally, a big thank you to Justin Gehtland and Stuart Halloway, founders of Relevance, Inc., for creating a unique workplace that gives us the freedom to explore new technologies and contribute to the open-source community.