Book excerpt: Summary A fully revised edition that covers the new features available in Clojure 1.6. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology Clojure is a modern Lisp for the JVM. It has the strengths you expect: first-class functions, macros, and Lisp's clean programming style. It supports functional programming, making it ideal for concurrent programming and for creating domain-specific languages. Clojure lets you solve harder problems, make faster changes, and end up with a smaller code base. It's no wonder that there are so many Clojure success stories. About the Book Clojure in Action, Second Edition is an expanded and improved version that's been updated to cover the new features of Clojure 1.6. The book gives you a rapid introduction to the Clojure language, moving from abstract theory to practical examples. You'll start by learning how to use Clojure as a general-purpose language. Next, you'll explore Clojure's efficient concurrency model, based on the database concept of Software Transactional Memory (STM). You'll gain a new level of productivity through Clojure DSLs that can run on the JVM. Along the way, you'll learn countless tips, tricks, and techniques for writing smaller, safer, and faster code. What's Inside Functional programming basics Metaprogramming with Clojure's macros Interoperating with Java Covers Clojure 1.6 About the Reader Assumes readers are familiar with a programming language like C, Java, Ruby, or Python. Table of Contents Introducing Clojure Clojure elements: Data structures and functions Building blocks of Clojure Multimethod polymorphism Exploring Clojure and Java interop State and the concurrent world Evolving Clojure through macros More on functional programming Protocols, records, and types Test-driven development and more More macros and DSL