Clojure Gazette 196: We've got links again!

We've got links again!

Issue 196 - October 23, 2016

Hi Clojurists,

Well, it was a good run. As you probably know, I've been writing personal essays for the last twenty-five issues. I'm going to stop that now, in the Gazette. Those essays have been a good experiment. That means I learned something.

One thing I learned is that I need to be a little more careful about what I say. It's not that I'm lying or have bad intentions. It's that things said out of context are usually interpreted incorrectly. When I quickly throw together an essay for an issue, it's easy for a stray statement, which should really be a whole issue in itself, to be overlooked during editing (since I edit them as well).

Let me make this clear: I don't mind saying something controversial or difficult. I've done that many times. But I don't like it when my writing is so sloppy that it's easily misinterpreted.

I also learned that I assume incorrectly that I've built up a lot of context over my years of blogging. That's the thing about the web: most of your readers are first-timers. The deeper and more personal I got, the more I assumed the reader knew my stands on various topics and would see my statements in that light. That's what personal means. It's rough and ragged and embedded in a relationship. When that relationship doesn't exist, it's just rough and ragged. I can't assume any particular relationship with the people who read this.

PurelyFunctional.tv is growing, and I need to replicate the success I've had in the Clojure community in other programming languages. I have a direction I'm moving in and a rough plan. The direction is decidedly bigger, better, and bolder. Expect high quality, as always ;)

The format is returning to the curated list of links style, but with no editorial. I will still have a personal outlet on my blog ---look there for opinion pieces like you've seen here. More technical, functional programming tutorial content will appear on PurelyFunctional.tv . Clojure Gazette will be folded into PurelyFunctional.tv as part of a network of similar newsletters, all finding the best stuff---not just new stuff---to inspire and edify---and to help you thrive with functional programming.

Please enjoy the issue.

Rock on!

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You're obviously interested in Clojure. Have you ever thought of transitioning your career to functional programming? But maybe you have doubts about it working. Are there enough jobs? Will it take too much time? Is it just a trend? Get all your questions answered in my free course . If it doesn't answer your questions or quell your doubts, just email me. I respond to it all. There has never been a better time to programming in a functional language professionally. You know it's calling to you. You'll get to do functional programming at work and be around others doing it, too. You owe it to yourself to explore the possibility .

Category Theory, The essence of interface-based design Youtube

Erik Meijer presents Category Theory one step at a time. It looks like he's on a mission to bring math back to programming.

Move Over Free Monads: Make Way for Free Applicatives! Youtube

John de Goes shows us about the value of free applicatives. Category theory applied.

Why the free Monad isn't free Youtube

Kelley Robinson explains what free monads are and talks about the costs of free monads. Sometimes those costs are people costs.

Agility & Robustness: Clojure spec Youtube

Stuart Halloway motivates Clojure spec and gives some great insights into how it compares with tests and types. There are some good examples of specs, too.