Inconsistency in Clojure: functions in macros and IllegalArgumentException

Question

Two following examples of using a function in a macro result in evaluations without errors.

(defmacro works []
  (let [f (fn [] 1)]
    `(~f)))
(works)
;; =&         


        

Answer 1

See this example that does also throw the exception:

(defmacro does-also-not-work []
  (let [x 4
        f (fn [] x)]
    `(~f)))

Just like the result of constantly, but unlike your first two examples, f here is a closure. Apparently, closures created during macro-expansion time do not persist.