Clojure Development: IDE or REPL?

Question

I\'ve been using Clojure for a little while and want to create some projects that are bigger and more complicated than toys. I\'ve been using Java for the past few years and hav

Answer 1

I use both - Eclipse IDE and Counterclockwise plugin which provides a REPL. This is a particularly nice combination if you develop Java code alongside Clojure (as I do).

My general approach is:

• Write Clojure code in the editor
• Keep a REPL open for testing things out (Ctrl+Enter is a useful shortcut here: it executes whatever code is selected in your editor in the REPL)
• Use the generic IDE tools for project management, building, testing, SCM etc.

At times , I also work purely in the REPL. This is usually better for testing things out quickly. If I particularly like a piece of test code, I will simply copy/paste it from the REPL into my test suite.