Clojure Gazette 155: Labor, Internet, Datomic

Written by Eric Normand. Published: January 10, 2016.

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Labor, Internet, Datomic

Clojure
Gazette

Issue 155 - January 10, 2015

Hi Clojurists,

Happy New Year!

I'm back after a well-needed vacation. Thanks for sticking around!

There isn't very much to say. Clojure continues doing its thing: providing a functional language inside of a host platform that is better at some things than the host itself.

The Clojure Cup 2015 results were impressive. What these teams did in 48 hours rivals what you see in similar hackathons in other languages, especially in terms of interactivity, thanks to React wrappers. Is this the year Clojure(Script) knocks the socks off other web stacks?

Please enjoy the issue.

Rock on!

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PPS Want to advertise to smart and talented Clojure devs ?

Sponsor: Which developer on your team is looking for a new job?

I've had lots of personal experience with leaving jobs that were otherwise good but, for some reason, I was unhappy. This article really resonates with me. I felt like my manager was out of touch with me. All I wanted was someone who talked to me and helped me figure out how to do my best at the job. Communication has to be frequent and honest. So a challenge to all managers out there: talk more, one-on-one, with your team.

ClojureScript Year in Review

David Nolen explains the exciting things that have happened to ClojureScript in 2015. Also check out the Clojure 2015 Year in Review by Stuart Sierra.

Kelsey Gilmore-Innis on the San Francisco Labor Movement Youtube

A fascinating talk by engineer Kelsey Gilmore-Innis about the San Francisco dockworkers' movement and how it relates to our industry.

Kathy Sierra at XOXO Youtube

Kathy Sierra was absent at Strange Loop (which would have been an awesome talk) but she presented a lot more about how she designed the Head First Java book, which still tops the Java book list on Amazon.

She was getting into Clojure before being harassed off the internet ( again ). If anyone needs proof that internet harassment affects all of us, just imagine what a contribution to the Clojure community she would have made.

Datomic Conf Videos

While all of the videos were good, I really liked Tim Ewald's talk about using Datomic transactions.

Eric Meyer on how design can save the internet Youtube

Eric Meyer invented the first CSS Reset and has been instrumental in designing CSS itself. In this moving talk, he urges us to design our software to encourage better behavior on the internet.

A Short History of Live Programming Youtube

Gilad Bracha presents a history of live programming systems. Live programming recently became popular thanks to a talk by Bret Victor . But the history goes back almost as far as programming itself.

[Haskell in the Large](https://github.com/singpenguin/ppt/blob/master/Haskell%20in%20the%20Large.pdf?utm_source=Cloju

re+Gazette&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=155)

Haskell is a great language, but in Haskell, complexity at the value level is often traded for complexity at the type level. This slide deck presents practical advice for using Haskell to manage the complexity of software.

Full stack FP in Datomic, Clojure, and ClojureScript

Priyatam Mudivarti explores the possibilities of using "full stack Clojure", meaning Edn, Clojure, ClojureScript, and Datomic. He uses demos to show how small and succinct solutions to hard problems could be. While there's very little hard-hitting engineering (breaking down problems and showing how to solve them), the talk has a philosophical style that could open minds. If you like his style, he's giving a ClojureScript workshop in February.

What is Functional Programming?

Kris Jenkins does a good job explaining what functional programming is and why it can reduce complexity.