Clojure Brain Teasers Review

Review and solutions for ‘Clojure Brain Teasers’ by Alex Miller and Lorilyn Jordan Miller - a collection of 25 puzzles that explore Clojure’s quirks and common pitfalls around equality, collections, evaluation, and runtime behavior.

Overview

This repository contains notes and examples from working through the puzzles in “Clojure Brain Teasers”. The book explores common misconceptions and edge cases in Clojure around:

• Basics
• Collections
• Evaluation
• Runtime and Library

Structure

.
├── LICENSE
├── README.org
├── deps.edn
├── Makefile
└── src/
    ├── basics/         # Puzzles 1-5 
    ├── collections/    # Puzzles 6-11
    ├── evaluation/     # Puzzles 12-17
    └── runtime/        # Puzzles 18-25

Development Workflow

flowchart TB
    subgraph make["Make Targets"]
        direction TB
        init["init\n(create dirs)"]
        deps["deps\n(install deps)"]
        clean["clean\n(cleanup)"]
        check["check\n(lint + test)"]
        fmt["fmt\n(format code)"]
        lint["lint\n(clj-kondo)"]
        test["test\n(run tests)"]
        repl["repl\n(dev console)"]
        build["build\n(full build)"]
        docs["docs\n(cover + qr)"]
    end

    subgraph deps_edn["deps.edn Aliases"]
        direction TB
        test_runner[":test\ncognitect"]
        dev[":dev\ntools"]
        clj_kondo[":lint\nkondo"]
        cljfmt[":fmt\ncljfmt"]
        portal[":portal\nviz"]
        coverage[":test\ncoverage"]
        deps_graph[":graph\ndeps"]
        build_tools[":build\ntools"]
    end

    subgraph workflow["Development Workflow"]
        direction LR
        setup --> develop
        develop --> verify
        verify --> deploy
    end

    %% Stage connections
    init --> setup
    deps --> setup
    
    repl --> develop
    fmt --> develop
    portal --> develop
    
    lint --> verify
    test --> verify
    check --> verify
    coverage --> verify
    
    build --> deploy
    deps_graph --> deploy

    %% Tool connections 
    test --> test_runner
    fmt --> cljfmt
    lint --> clj_kondo
    repl --> dev
    build --> build_tools

    classDef default fill:#f9f9f9,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    classDef workflow fill:#d4e6f1,stroke:#2874a6,stroke-width:2px
    classDef make fill:#e8f5e9,stroke:#2e7d32,stroke-width:1px
    classDef deps fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#ef6c00,stroke-width:1px

    class workflow workflow
    class make,init,deps,clean,check,fmt,lint,test,repl,build,docs make
    class deps_edn,test_runner,dev,clj_kondo,cljfmt,portal,coverage,deps_graph,build_tools deps

Loading

Setup

1. Install Clojure CLI tools
2. Clone this repository
3. Initialize the project structure:

   make init
       

4. Install dependencies:

   make deps
       

Development Tools

Configuration

Org Babel

(org-babel-do-load-languages
 'org-babel-load-languages
 '((clojure . t)
   (shell . t)
   (emacs-lisp . t)))

(setq org-babel-clojure-backend 'cider
      org-confirm-babel-evaluate nil
      org-src-preserve-indentation t
      org-babel-default-header-args
      '((:mkdirp . "yes")
        (:tangle . "yes")
        (:comments . "org")))

Installation

Using Homebrew

brew install clojure make git imagemagick ghostscript qrencode gh

Using Nix

{ pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> {} }:

pkgs.mkShell {
  buildInputs = with pkgs; [
    clojure
    gnumake
    git
    ghostscript
    imagemagick
    qrencode
    gh
  ];
}

Development Environment

Core Tools

Tool	Purpose	Version
clojure	Clojure CLI & deps	1.11.1
make	Build automation	4.4+
git	Version control	2.39+
ghostscript	PDF processing	10.0+
imagemagick	Image manipulation	7.1+
qrencode	QR code generation	4.1+
gh	GitHub CLI	2.39+

Clojure Tools

Tool	Purpose	Config
clj-kondo	Static analysis	:dev
cljfmt	Code formatting	:dev
test-runner	Test execution	:test
portal	Data visualization	:dev
tools.build	Build tooling	:build
antq	Dependency management	:outdated

Workflow Commands

Basic Development

# Initial setup
make deps              # Install dependencies
make init              # Create project structure

# Development cycle
make repl              # Start development REPL
make test              # Run test suite
make fmt               # Format code
make lint              # Run linter
make check            # Run all checks

Documentation

# Generate documentation assets
make cover            # Create book cover from PDF
make qr               # Generate repository QR code

Version Control

# Setup Git hooks
git config core.hooksPath .githooks
chmod +x .githooks/*

Version Requirements

{:min-versions
 {"org.clojure/clojure" "1.11.1"
  "org.clojure/tools.deps" "0.16.1281"}}

Community Resources

• Clojure CLI Guide
• Practical.li Clojure
• tools.build Guide
• Babashka Book

Notes

Each puzzle includes:

• Original puzzle code
• Solution and explanation
• Additional examples and edge cases
• Related documentation links

References

• Book Page
• Official Repository
• Errata

License

This repository is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.