Rocky Mountain Software Symposium
November 16 - 18, 2012
The Curious Clojureist
Saturday - Nov 17 11:00 AM MST - Salon A
Why is Clojure the best new language on the JVM? Come to this session and see why this functional, dynamic Lisp is the best thing on the JVM since Java.
Clojure is the most interesting new language on the horizon, but many developers suffer from the Blub Paradox when they see the Lisp syntax. This talk introduces Clojure to developers who haven't been exposed to it yet, focusing on the things that truly set it apart from other languages. I discuss all of Clojure's syntax (in about 10 minutes), then delve into fascinating features like destructuring, building macros like thread-first and thread-last, the Atomic Succession Model of Concurrency, Clojure's use of Protocols to organize code and solve The Expression Problem, and many more cool features. Come see why some of our most sophisticated projects are using Clojure.
Neal Ford
Director / Software Architect / Meme Wrangler
About Neal Ford
Neal is Director, Software Architect, and Meme Wrangler at ThoughtWorks, a global IT consultancy with an exclusive focus on end-to-end software development and delivery.
Before joining ThoughtWorks, Neal was the Chief Technology Officer at The DSW Group, Ltd., a nationally recognized training and development firm. Neal has a degree in Computer Science from Georgia State University specializing in languages and compilers and a minor in mathematics specializing in statistical analysis.
He is also the designer and developer of applications, instructional materials, magazine articles, video presentations, and author of 6 books, including the most recent The Productive Programmer. His language proficiencies include Java, C#/.NET, Ruby, Groovy, functional languages, Scheme, Object Pascal, C++, and C. His primary consulting focus is the design and construction of large-scale enterprise applications. Neal has taught on-site classes nationally and internationally to all phases of the military and to many Fortune 500 companies. He is also an internationally acclaimed speaker, having spoken at over 100 developer conferences worldwide, delivering more than 600 talks. If you have an insatiable curiosity about Neal, visit his web site at http://www.nealford.com. He welcomes feedback and can be reached at nford@thoughtworks.com.