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
├── spec.org                  # Project goals and specification
├── deps.edn                  # Dependency configuration
├── Makefile                   # Build automation (gmake)
├── shell.nix                  # Nix development environment
├── .clj-kondo/                # Linter configuration
├── .github/workflows/         # CI/CD pipelines
├── scripts/                   # Utility scripts
├── doc/
│   ├── learning-clojure-puzzles.org
│   ├── KNOWLEDGE_MAP.org
│   ├── RELEASES.md
│   ├── TEST_PROGRESS.md
│   └── development/           # Style guide and resources
├── src/
│   ├── basics/                # Puzzles 1-5
│   ├── collections/           # Puzzles 6-11
│   ├── evaluation/            # Puzzles 12-17
│   ├── runtime/               # Puzzles 18-25
│   └── clojurescript/         # ClojureScript-specific teasers
└── test/                      # Mirrors src/ structure
    ├── basics/
    ├── collections/
    ├── evaluation/
    ├── runtime/
    └── clojurescript/

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

Setup

Install Clojure CLI tools
Clone this repository
Initialize the project structure:
```
make init
    
```
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

Clojure 1.11.1+
tools.deps 0.16.1281+
ClojureScript 1.12.145+ (for async teasers)

Community Resources

Notes

Each puzzle includes:

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

References

License

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

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README.org

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