Why we built Vade Studio in Clojure

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Language choice, hiring, and productivity

  • Several argue you should “build with what you’re comfortable with,” but also what you can hire for and scale with.
  • One camp claims niche languages (Clojure, Rust, Elixir, etc.) attract unusually strong developers and enable small, very productive teams.
  • Others counter that the best engineers are generally language‑agnostic, and that language evangelism correlates with low productivity and rewrite churn.
  • A more conservative view emphasizes mainstream languages (Python/Java/TS/C#/Go) for recruiting, tooling, AI assistance, and long‑term maintainability.

Why Clojure / Lisps appeal

  • Supporters highlight: simplicity, immutable persistent data structures, REPL‑driven development, and strong data orientation (EDN, maps, sequences).
  • Some report Clojure rekindled their interest in programming and improved how they reason about abstractions and other languages.
  • Emphasis on modeling systems as transformations of simple data; Pathom + Malli mentioned for graph-like domain modeling and generated resolvers.
  • Others argue similar functional/immutable styles are viable in TypeScript, Elixir, etc., and that Clojure isn’t uniquely capable.

Dynamic vs static typing

  • Static‑type proponents worry about large Clojure codebases, unclear data shapes, and painful refactors; prefer Rust/TS‑like “hover to see types.”
  • Clojure defenders point to REPL introspection, specs/Malli, clj‑kondo, and argue that dynamic + REPL can be extremely productive, especially for smaller teams.
  • There is debate over Typed Clojure: technically available but seen as immature and rarely used; many prefer runtime spec-based approaches.
  • Several note that all approaches involve trade‑offs; static typing is helpful but not a silver bullet.

REPLs and development experience

  • Strong praise for Lisp-style REPL‑driven development: interactive, “video‑game‑like” coding, including connecting to running systems (even in production).
  • Some Elixir users prefer IEx; others find CIDER/nREPL superior. General agreement that most non‑Lisps have weaker REPL integration.

Complexity, abstractions, and adoption

  • Multiple comments stress that managing complexity, not adding technology, is the real challenge; preference for “boring” tech (e.g., Postgres) emerges with experience.
  • Debate over whether powerful abstractions and exotic languages scale in large teams vs. simple OO/Java‑style stacks.
  • Historical side threads discuss why Lisp/Smalltalk didn’t dominate, windows of opportunity, and how community and ecosystem shape adoption.

Vade Studio specifics & product feedback

  • Some impressed that a three‑developer team built a complex system in ~1.5–2 years; others question how much credit belongs to Clojure versus abstractions and team skill.
  • Users report GitHub login loops; maintainer acknowledges and investigates. Google/GitHub auth chosen for frictionless signup; email login requested and promised.
  • Requests for clear pricing, email auth, mobile app generation, and better explanation of “data as first-class citizens” and the conflict‑resolution model.