Why I'm learning ClojureWhy I'm learning Clojure
I've been interested in learning to code for a while, but never really took a full leap. I've had a few false starts. In college I took classes where I had to use R and Stata for statistical programming and econometrics, but I didn't use it beyond the classroom. I tried learning Python for statistical programming on my own with Datacamp, but I wasn't able to maintain my enthusiasm for too long. There were a lot of syntax rules that didn't make immediate sense to me (maybe the underlying rules...
Domain-specific languages as end-user softwareDomain-specific languages as end-user software
What I learned from GuidedTrack
Working on GuidedTrack, I have become very interested in this concept of domain-specific languages as applications. GuidedTrack does this interesting thing where the functions are so high level that it's fairly plug and play to make a research study, form, or choose-your-own-adventure story.
You can even write your code in a structured editor that lets you fill out a form to generate your code for you. As you get more familiar with the language, you don't n...
How I'm learning ClojureHow I'm learning Clojure
On these sorts of things, I like to Follow curiosity unconditionally. While I may not be progressing down a curriculum as fast as others, the fact that I'm trusting my curiosity means that I'm consuming more content overall. It's self-motivated, rather than obligated.
There is no curriculum that encompasses everything you should know applies here as well. It should be clear that my desired use case (exploring Domain-specific languages as end-user software and trying to create runnable models...
What I like about ClojureWhat I like about Clojure
The syntax of Clojure is simple and uniform. In order to enable learnable programming, people should not have to think hard about syntax. When I look at code in other languages, I see so much syntax that I don't even want to think about learning it.
An excerpt from my notes on The Joy of Clojure
In Clojure, just about everything you'll do is (operator argument argument). The fact that it's a lot of parentheses doesn't scare me… if anything, it makes it look more uniform and consistent.
So...