[pacomerh]

I've been wanting to get into ClojureScript (to clean my development practices, etc) but I'm wondering if I need to be a Clojure user. Does it make sense for a Javascript developer to just jump straight to ClojureScript?. I've seen PureScript also.

[stijlist]

Short answer: yes, jump right in!

Check out David's other blog posts, ClojureScript synonyms[1], and http://clojurescriptmadeeasy.com.

http://himera.herokuapp.com/synonym.html

[retrogradeorbit]

After learning Clojure and ClojureScript I got really excited and was ranting about it to my friend. He skipped Clojure and went straight to ClojureScript and has been having the time of his life.

One thing that's simpler in ClojureScript is that it only has one type of shared mutable reference, the Atom. Atoms are uncoordinated and synchronous. But Clojure has more types, with different behaviour characteristics. So in a way ClojureScript is simpler and could be the introduction.

[freshhawk]

As has been said, they are basically the same language.

In terms of learning, it's probably easier to learn Clojure at the very beginning.

It's simpler to get repl working and get a project building with Clojure right now. Not much simpler, but simpler. And at the very beginning, when the toolchain is magic to you, that matters.

As early as you like you can switch to Clojurescript, learn the handful of small differences and go from there.

[akilism]

It's so simple now:

http://planck.fikesfarm.com/

download, run, and you have a clojurescript repl ready to go on osx at least.

[pacomerh]

nice thanks

[mfikes]

Clojure and ClojureScript are practically the same language. Both are "hosted", relying on Java and JavaScript for low-level things and providing clean interop for those things.

So, I see no problem with learning either. Especially when you first jump in you are concerned more with the language "proper".