The latest articles on Forem by Nick Tolhurst (@nicktolhurst). https://forem.com/nicktolhurst https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F1044887%2Ffdfcf213-ea51-4acd-bfc7-f66066262fde.png https://forem.com/nicktolhurst en Nick Tolhurst Fri, 17 Mar 2023 18:00:00 +0000 https://forem.com/nicktolhurst/day-1-of-a-week-of-clojure-as-a-total-beginner-44df https://forem.com/nicktolhurst/day-1-of-a-week-of-clojure-as-a-total-beginner-44df <h3> Context </h3> <ul> <li>I have never used <strong>clojure</strong> before.</li> <li>I will be honest about my approach and thoughts.</li> <li>I have experience with various OOP languages, but not in a professional capacity.</li> <li>I work as an infrastructure engineer, I am not new to tech.</li> </ul> <h3> Setup </h3> <p>Where to start?</p> <ol> <li><strong>Google “how to install closure”</strong></li> <li><strong>Click on “Show instead ‘how to install clojure’“</strong></li> </ol> <p>After poking around the many different ways to get <strong>clojure</strong> installed - and some failed attempts with WSL2 🥴 - I found that vscode has an extension/environment - <a href="https://calva.io/">Calva</a>.</p> <p>This was a no-brainer. Though I am also interested in learning <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">Emacs</a>, <a href="https://www.vim.org/">Vim</a>, and the numerous other editors out there (and I will, I promise), I am already familiar with <a href="https://code.visualstudio.com/">vscode</a>, and I’m here to give <strong>clojure</strong> my best effort and full attention.</p> <p>Installing Calva is easy. Below is the one-liner, or you could use the UI.<br> </p> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight plaintext"><code>code --install-extension betterthantomorrow.calva </code></pre> </div> <p>It is also admirably <del>beginner</del> friendly, with an interactive getting-started guide that has a witty style. To start this, press<code>ctrl</code>+<code>shift</code>+<code>p</code>, type <code>calfig</code>, press <code>enter</code> (you will learn more about these tasks in the guide!).</p> <p>Wow. This looks nerdy 🤓. I’ll wait to get stuck in; first, some reading:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://clojure.org/guides/getting_started">https://clojure.org/guides/getting_started</a></li> <li><a href="https://clojure.org/guides/structural_editing">https://clojure.org/guides/structural_editing</a></li> <li><a href="https://clojure.org/guides/repl/introduction">https://clojure.org/guides/repl/introduction</a></li> </ul> <p>Okay, I wish I didn’t read them - even though I know it is essential, it made little sense at this point 🤷‍♂️. It took a lot to follow, especially for a newbie in this type of programming. In retrospect - <em>this blog was written up a day later</em> - I should have completed the getting-started guide first. A little warm-up is advised.</p> <h3> Actually getting started </h3> <p>Ah, this is better.</p> <p>My initial thoughts are this is <del>beginner</del> friendly 🙌. Can programming languages be inclusive for newbies? 🤔 I already feel like I am being lured in and want to learn more. As I spend the next ~40 minutes working my way through the introduction.</p> <p>There are lots of shortcuts worth learning. Below 👇 are the top 4 that I most use so far. I’ll continue to post these as I discover them.</p> <ul> <li> <code>alt</code>+<code>enter</code>: evaluate top level form.</li> <li> <code>ctrl</code>+<code>enter</code>: evaluate current form.</li> <li> <code>ctrl</code>+<code>alt</code>+<code>c</code>, <code>enter</code>: load / reload current file.</li> <li> <code>escape</code>: remove all evaluated results.</li> </ul> <h3> Wrap up </h3> <p>The getting-started guide is longer than I expected. It’s been a very late hour. Yet I’m still here and even more invested. Have I learned anything? Only that I now understand less. I have no idea what this would ever be used for - but that’s okay. Trust the process.</p> <p>Let me know your thoughts and recommendations! Apologies if I mistype or misunderstand. I am always open to feedback and corrections.</p> <p>I’ll check back in tomorrow, thanks for reading 🙏</p> clojure learning technology