Learn how to extend Clojure using macros
Have you ever wanted a language that adapts to your software? Have you ever wanted to eliminate boilerplate? What about extend the syntax without changing the compiler? Those are what macros let you do.
If you've ever wanted to learn Clojure macros, this course is the place to start. This course jumps right into macros with gusto. It starts with the key to understanding macros, takes you through the implementation of 6 progressively more complex macros, and finishes with the three reasons you need macros.
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Clojure Macro Patterns Reference
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Clojure Macro Sigils Reference
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Clojure Macroexpand Reference
Beginning with Clojure Macros
Lessons
Video time: 01h38m
The key to understanding macros
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5 min
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free
Do you know the key to really understanding macros? This lesson explains it. It's simpler than you think.
Writing our first macro
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11 min
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free
We jump right in and start coding a simple macro, discovering the sigils we need along the way.
How to tackle difficult macros
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2 min
Before we dive into our more complex macros, we equip ourselves with a powerful technique that focuses our mental powers on the data transformation at the heart of macros.
Understanding macroexpansion
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6 min
We need one last tool before we begin our exploration. In order to debug our macros, we need to see what code they are outputting. There are three levels of macroexpansion to learn.
Macro example: when
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6 min
Clojure's built-in when is a macro that expands into if. Let's write a version ourselves.
Macro example: while
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6 min
Clojure's while loop is also a macro. Let's make one ourselves!
Macro example: regex
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12 min
Let's build an interesting macro to simulate regular expression features of Perl and Ruby: automatically binding locals to the match and groups.
Macro example: with-open
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19 min
One of the more interesting uses of macros is to make with- macros. These bind locals but also do something with them at the end. Let's build with-open.
Macro example: mf
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13 min
This is an experimental macro that I came up with. It makes a function that "wraps" a macro so that it can be used at runtime.
How to know when you need a macro
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4 min
People say you shouldn't write a macro unless you need one. I don't know if that's true (it's controversial in the Lisp world). But how do you know you need one?
A deeper explanation of with-open
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14 min
Do you understand the pattern of using helper functions within a macro and how it can make your macro more useful and easier to understand?
