You really should know a little bit of Clojure
Ben Orenstein • Montevideo, Uruguay • Talk

Date: May 24, 2014
Published: November 15, 2014
Announced: unknown

For the past 15 years or so, I've been solving problems with object-oriented code, usually in Ruby. My projects have been mostly successful, but there have always been things that bothered me about object-oriented programming--a feeling that there had to be a better way to construct software.

Recently, I've been experimenting with a language that seems to have discovered that better way: Clojure.

Functional programming in general, and Clojure in particular seem to offer some tremendous benefits over the way I've always written code. Not only am I thrilled with the solutions I've been able to create, but the things I've learned have even improved my Ruby.

I've started to believe that all Rubyists should be exposed to at least a little bit of Clojure. This talk can be your first step.

Also, I'll show how some of these ideas can help you write better Ruby, even if you never touch a single line of Clojure.

Topics to cover include:

The power of immutable data (and how you can accomplish anything if your data never changes).
Why writing code that deals with time is always so painful.
What life is like when everything doesn't have to be a class.
Generative testing: a higher-level approach that's faster and more thorough than traditional unit tests.
A way out of JavaScript's "callback hell" (and I don't just mean futures or promises).
Homoiconicity: scary name, simple concept, immensely powerful results.

RubyConf Uruguay 2014