% Rationale for using Clojure
% John Gabriele

Here are some reasons why you might like to use Clojure:

  * elegant, mostly-minimal syntax (expressions in balanced
    parentheses, brackets, & braces)
  * Clojure programs run very quickly (the JVM is highly optimized).
  * The language itself is fairly
    [simple](http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy)
    and practical.
  * powerful language features (ex., macros, protocols, etc.)
  * excellent concurrency support
  * easy interoperability with Java, providing access to the Java
    standard libraries and other Java libs as well (no wrapping required)
  * cross-platform (runs wherever Java is available)
  * sharp, active, and helpful community
  * It's a modern well-thought-out language, and it's a lot of fun to
    use. `:)`

See also Rich Hickey's [rationale](http://clojure.org/rationale).

Some potential **drawbacks** to using Clojure:

  * Clojure's license (the
    [EPL](http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/License:EPLv1.0)), which is also
    often used for many libraries in the Clojure ecosystem, is not
    [GPL-compatible](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#WhatDoesCompatMean).
  * slow program start-up time (on my desktop, ≅ 1s)
  * Error messages often leave something to be desired (long
    stacktraces).
  * accessing native C libs may require a little elbow grease, and you're
    generally instead referred to Java-(semi-)equivalents
  * Reliance on the Java/JVM ecosystem --- a drawback if this is
    something you'd prefer to avoid. (Though, [as noted](index.html), there
    are other Clojure implementations.)