| Web Development with Clojure |
Author: Dmitri Sotnikov Clojure and websites aren't natural partners. Can this book convince otherwise? Clojure is a Lisp-like language that runs on the JVM. You can probably guess that as a Lisp-like language it probably isn't going to be a very popular one. You might, however, be surprised to learn that it is currently 50th in the TIOBE rankings. While you can't take the TIOBE index as absolute fact, it does give you some idea where a language fits into the ecosystem. If I tell you that languages above Clojure include ActionScript, Hack, LadderLogic, Groovy, Prolog, Scheme and so on. Some of these you probably haven't heard of and ActionScript is a dead language because it is the language of Flash. 
So while this book might be good, I need to warn you from the start that using Clojure to develop web sites is going to be a lonely occupation. A second small problem is that the software used is something that the author thought up. There is sometimes a big bonus in reading a book by the creator of the software being described but usually only when that software has been massively successful. When this isn't the case the books generally read more like an advertising pitch. This book doesn't read like an advert for the author's own software but it is an unashamed hard sell on Clojure and the Clojure way to create website.
The book starts off with a basic website implementation. This is where you get all of the components in place. Chapter 2 introduces Luminus, the author's software and Chapter 3 moves on to explaining its architecture. Chapter 4 is about adding ClojureScript support; ClojureScript compiles to JavaScript. Chapter 5 moves on to using websockets for real time messaging. Chapter 6 is about implementing REST and Chapter 7 is on database. Finally we have a big example - a picture gallery. The book closes with general topics such as unit testing. There are also five appendixes including a quick Clojure primer, how to use OAuth and non-SQL databases. The book is easy to read and there are lots of examples. Some of the example are big and you are going to have to work hard to follow. I also don't think that this is a first book on Clojure you should read. The primer in the appendix isn't enough as Clojure is a somewhat different language - you would probably cope if you already knew Lisp or another Lisp-like language. Even if you are not interested in using Clojure to implement a website, this is a useful book of practical Clojure example code.
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 13 May 2017 ) |