Features from Clojure
Calcit is mostly a ClojureScript dialect. So it should also be considered a Clojure dialect.
There are some significant features Calcit is learning from Clojure,
- Runtime persistent data by default, you can only simulate states with
Refs. - Namespaces
- Hygienic macros(although less powerful)
- Higher order functions
- Keywords, although Calcit changed the name to "tag" since
0.7 - Compiles to JavaScript, interops
- Hot code swapping while code modified, and trigger an
on-reloadfunction - HUD for JavaScript errors
Also there are some differences:
| Feature | Calcit | Clojure |
|---|---|---|
| Host Language | Rust, and use dylibs for extending | Java/Clojure, import Mavan packages |
| Syntax | Indentations / Syntax Tree Editor | Parentheses |
| Persistent data | unbalanced 2-3 Tree, with tricks from FingerTree | HAMT / RRB-tree |
| Package manager | git clone to a folder | Clojars |
| bundle js modules | ES Modules, with ESBuild/Vite | Google Closure Compiler / Webpack |
| operand order | at first | at last |
| Polymorphism | at runtime, slow .map ([] 1 2 3) f | at compile time, also supports multi-arities |
| REPL | only at command line: cr --eval "+ 1 2" | a real REPL |
[] syntax | [] is a built-in function | builtin syntax |
{} syntax | {} (:a b) is macro, expands to &{} :a :b | builtin syntax |
also Calcit is a one-person language, it has too few features compared to Clojure.
Calcit shares many paradiams I learnt while using ClojureScript. But meanwhile it's designed to be more friendly with ES Modules ecosystem.