Presentation Outline

Find out why Clojure is Java.next

* Clojure provides clean, fast access to all Java libraries
* Clojure provides all the low-ceremony goodness you know and love from dynamic languages
* Clojure includes Lisp’s signature feature: Treating code as data through macros.
* Clojure’s emphasis on immutability and support for software transactional memory make it a viable option for taking advantage of massively parallel hardware.

Clojure is a dynamic programming language for the Java Virtual Machine, with a compelling combination of features:

* Clojure is elegant. Clojure’s clean, careful design lets you write programs that get right to the essence of a problem, without a lot of clutter and ceremony.
* Clojure is Lisp reloaded. Clojure has the power inherent in Lisp, but not constrained by the history of Lisp.
* Clojure is a functional language. Data structures are immutable, and most functions are side-effect free. This makes it easier to write correct programs, and to compose large programs from smaller ones.
* Clojure simplifies concurrent programming. Of course, Java itself has pretty good concurrency support, but there is wide agreement that lock-based concurrency is difficult to use correctly. Clojure provides alternatives to lock-based concurrency: software transactional memory, agents, and dynamic variables.
* Clojure embraces Java. Calling from Clojure to Java is direct, and goes through no translation layer.
* Unlike many popular dynamic languages, Clojure is fast. Wherever you need it, you can get the exact same performance that you could get from hand-written Java code.

Presenter Bio

Aaron Bedra is a principal at Relevance, Inc. (http://thinkrelevance.com) where he works as a technical lead, speaker, and author. Aaron’s current focus is Enterprise Systems Integration using Clojure and JRuby. He is the maintainer of the Ruby code coverage analysis tool, RCov, and is a contributor to many open source projects including Clojure Contrib, Compojure, and Ruby on Rails. Aaron is the author of the Rails Security Audit Peepcode.

More About Aaron »

Presentation Outline

We will divide the evening into 2 parts. The first topic will be an intro to Enterprise Integration Patterns and the related Camel Framework.

The second discussion will focus on Robocode. This is a gaming platform that supports the creation of AI Bots that we will learn how to design. In a future meeting, we plan to have a competition where those who have created bots can pit them against each other in an online competition.

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