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https://github.com/jfacorro/clojure-lab

Clojure Lab - Development Environment in Clojure
https://github.com/jfacorro/clojure-lab

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Clojure Lab - Development Environment in Clojure

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# Clojure Lab






**Clojure Lab** is a project that aims to build a development environment for Clojure in Clojure, its main goals are *usability* and *extensibility*. This project is currently under development, so most of the assertions that follow are closer to wishful thinking than reality... for now :).



### Usability



- When new to the environment you should feel comfortable while discovering and interacting with the features available.

- There should be no road blocks and work should flow naturally once you are familiarized with the way things work.

- Enable the best possible use of the keyboard and mouse combination, both are useful tools for interaction and they each should have their place while working in the environment.



### Extensibility



- Provide a simple API to create your own tools and controls that can be used in the environment, for example in case there's a tool that you are missing and you feel like scratching your own itch.

- New types of projects and documents can be created with plugins.

- Plugins will have access to every core library, so that existing functionality can be enhanced and built upon.



## Rationale



When I started using Clojure I bumped into the situation where I didn't quite know what to use for Clojure development. [Emacs][6] seemed too big a challenge to start playing with a new language, so while reading the [Joy of Clojure][7] and going through its examples, [Clooj][4] was a pretty good tool to explore the basics. Although Clooj has its shortcomings it provides a friendly, simple and familiar interface.



After some time of Clojure development three things happened that brought **Clojure Lab** into being:



- Having to present a final project for me to graduate from school.

- Reading [Chas Emerick][2]'s post [The Ideal Clojure Development Environment][1].

- Thinking that I didn't have an accessible choice for a Clojure development environment that would scale for bigger projects.



Even when I discovered [Counterclockwise][3] and [Light Table][5] was annouced , I still decided to try and build an IDE that could cover as many of the features mentioned in [The Ideal Clojure Development Environment][1] as possible. The final goal is to have a powerful extensible tool, yet simple and accessible, that provides a reactive user interface with discoverable features (a lot easier said than done, right?).



## Running the Application



### Requirements



In order to fire up Clojure Lab from the REPL, build or run it you need:



- [Leiningen](https://github.com/technomancy/leiningen/) installed and in your `$PATH`.

- [JDK 1.7.0](http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk7-downloads-1880260.html) installed.



### REPL



The application can be run by either using the `lein run` or starting a REPL and then calling the `-main` function:



    $ lein repl

    lab.main> (-main)



### Building



An executable `lab.jar` file can be generated through the use of the `lein build` command. 



### Downloading



Pre-built executable jar files are available in the [releases][9] section of this project.



## User Guide



There's a small user manual/guide that shows how to start using **Clojure Lab** [here][8].



## Features



Most of the features in the following list were extracted from the post [The Ideal Clojure Development Environment][1]:



### Code Editing



- Syntax highlighting. **DONE**

- Brace, bracket, paren matching. **DONE**

- Paredit equivalency. **DONE**

- Easily-togglable rainbow parens. **DONE**

- S-expression navigation.

- In-place popup macroexpansion. **DONE**

- Auto completion. **DONE**



### Project Organization



- File management. **DONE**

- Code compilation.

- Dependencies resolution (maven & leiningen support).

- Initial configuration. **DONE**

- Static analysis:

    - Current file code outline. **DONE**

    - Static namespace browser.



### REPL

- Multiple REPLs support (each running on a separate process). **DONE**

- Execution history:

    - Search.

    - Execute again. **DONE**

- Runtime namespace browser.

- Full editor capability in the REPL.

- Automatic generation and configuration of the classpath for local REPLs. **DONE (Leiningen)**



### Nice-to-have

- Full Java support Integrated (debugging, code completion, profiling, etc.).

- Code generation (deftype/defrecord/extend-type/gen-class/proxy).

- REPL

    - Configurable pretty-printing of output.

    - Being able to `print` non-textual data, like images and such.

- Static analysis

    - Symbol navigation (i.e. "Go to declaration").

    - Find usages.



# License



Copyright © 2014 Juan Facorro



Distributed under the Eclipse Public License, the same as Clojure.



  [1]: http://cemerick.com/ideal-clojure-development-environment/

  [2]: http://cemerick.com/

  [3]: https://code.google.com/p/counterclockwise/

  [4]: https://github.com/arthuredelstein/clooj

  [5]: http://www.lighttable.com/

  [6]: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/

  [7]: http://joyofclojure.com/

  [8]: https://github.com/jfacorro/clojure-lab/blob/master/docs/manual.md

  [9]: https://github.com/jfacorro/clojure-lab/releases