25 ms·

I was reading somewhere that the core.async lib has not been updated in awhile...is this correct? (generally curious if the lib is actively updated)

didibus 7y ago
It is maintained, but not actively. Like the last year there was two issues fixed in it. There isn't someone actively trying to enhance it or add more features to it. So my understanding is only major issues gets addressed.
- siscia 7y ago
  Which is a quite peculiar and reccurrent pattern in closure. After a while libraries and tools stabilize and the community just maintains it.
  - jakeinspace 7y ago
    Most Clojure libraries I've worked with, even the "larger" ones, are fairly small and concise by modern standards. I wonder if this has something to do with the lack of activity (in addition to being a small community). It feels a bit like the Unix philosophy - lots of small/medium libraries handling discrete problems, rather than many competing mega-frameworks. To me, this feels like a silver lining that comes from the limitations of a smaller dev community.
    - tombert 7y ago
      This is why I love functional programming as a whole. I feel like my code is really terse, without little/no sacrifices in expressivity, and usually no substantial sacrifice in performance.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
  - vnorilo 7y ago
    To me, that sounds like a Good Thing.
thom 7y ago
Yes. You should consider core Clojure (including everything covered in this article) as a proof of concept that will never be revisited.
- lukev 7y ago
  Wow. That will come as quite a surprise to the dozens of Fortune 50 companies out there using it as part of their core systems, let alone all the smaller companies and startups. Source: Worked as a consultant almost exclusively in Clojure for the past 10 years.
  - thom 7y ago
    I, too, have used Clojure as my primary language across three startups and 10 years, and despite my great affection for the language and community, I have told no lies here.
    - lukev 7y ago
      Clojure is far from perfect. But a lot of people are using it and will continue to use it effectively. It sounds like you're just salty for some reason. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but that has no bearing on the usefulness of the language.
      - tombert 7y ago
        I don't want to speak for the original author here, but I believe he's basically saying that Clojure has a bit of a tradition of "change no behavior!". Rich Hickey has said as much in one of his talks [1], and while I think Rich Hickey is objectively smarter than me, I don't actually agree with him on this point. The difference between Clojure and nearly any other language, however, is that you don't need the core library; you can add any language feature you want due to the awesome macro system in Lisps. Even if they deleted the core library tomorrow, we could still build in literally any language construct we want as a library. This is why Lisp is made of magic :)
Scarbutt 7y ago
A common pedantic comment I hear many times from clojure devs its that (the few)libraries are complete, just work and don't need any updates. Far from the truth IME. Having said that, Clojure is my favorite programming language for writing "business" applications.

didibus 7y ago

It is maintained, but not actively. Like the last year there was two issues fixed in it. There isn't someone actively trying to enhance it or add more features to it. So my understanding is only major issues gets addressed.

siscia 7y ago
Which is a quite peculiar and reccurrent pattern in closure. After a while libraries and tools stabilize and the community just maintains it.
- jakeinspace 7y ago
  Most Clojure libraries I've worked with, even the "larger" ones, are fairly small and concise by modern standards. I wonder if this has something to do with the lack of activity (in addition to being a small community). It feels a bit like the Unix philosophy - lots of small/medium libraries handling discrete problems, rather than many competing mega-frameworks. To me, this feels like a silver lining that comes from the limitations of a smaller dev community.
  - tombert 7y ago
    This is why I love functional programming as a whole. I feel like my code is really terse, without little/no sacrifices in expressivity, and usually no substantial sacrifice in performance.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
- vnorilo 7y ago
  To me, that sounds like a Good Thing.

thom 7y ago

Yes. You should consider core Clojure (including everything covered in this article) as a proof of concept that will never be revisited.

lukev 7y ago
Wow. That will come as quite a surprise to the dozens of Fortune 50 companies out there using it as part of their core systems, let alone all the smaller companies and startups. Source: Worked as a consultant almost exclusively in Clojure for the past 10 years.
- thom 7y ago
  I, too, have used Clojure as my primary language across three startups and 10 years, and despite my great affection for the language and community, I have told no lies here.
  - lukev 7y ago
    Clojure is far from perfect. But a lot of people are using it and will continue to use it effectively. It sounds like you're just salty for some reason. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but that has no bearing on the usefulness of the language.
    - tombert 7y ago
      I don't want to speak for the original author here, but I believe he's basically saying that Clojure has a bit of a tradition of "change no behavior!". Rich Hickey has said as much in one of his talks [1], and while I think Rich Hickey is objectively smarter than me, I don't actually agree with him on this point. The difference between Clojure and nearly any other language, however, is that you don't need the core library; you can add any language feature you want due to the awesome macro system in Lisps. Even if they deleted the core library tomorrow, we could still build in literally any language construct we want as a library. This is why Lisp is made of magic :)

Scarbutt 7y ago

A common pedantic comment I hear many times from clojure devs its that (the few)libraries are complete, just work and don't need any updates. Far from the truth IME. Having said that, Clojure is my favorite programming language for writing "business" applications.