Idea: mention REPL-driven development

[avescodes]

Idea: mention REPL-driven development

[danneu]

Yeah, the biggest challenge for anyone I try to lure into Clojure is arriving at a sensible workflow. Particularly when they suffer with an arduous workflow and don't realize how much easier it can be.

I'm no workflow master myself but I tried to enumerate some ideas on HN recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5870669

Maybe this is a section that a few screenshots would assist.

[jcromartie]

I've found that REPL-driven development is hard to explain but easy to demonstrate. It's probably better to show it via screencasts than try to write about it, but it's worth a shot.

[ifesdjeen]

I'd say that REPL-driven environment sometimes spoils people and they stop writing tests (seen that happening, actually).

My usual workflow is writing code, compiling it right in Emacs, then running a test. That kind of helps to preserve the history of something you'd usually evaluate in repl.

[eigenhombre]

I use both the REPL from Emacs as well as Midje for testing and find that they are both very helpful.

Personally I think Emacs probably provides some barrier to entry for newcomers to the language. Siince so many Clojurians use Emacs, Ryan's talk would be a good place to start. But I think Eclipse/Counterclockwise, Vim plugins (which I know nothing about), IntelliJ/LaClojure and Light Table alternatives should be at least mentioned in the recipe.

[avescodes]

We'll probably try to work this into the introduction. Thanks folks.