Clojure: Getting Started in 5 Simple Steps (Emacs+Slime)

More than anything, this post succinctly describes how to get up and running with Clojure + Emacs. Virtually no thinking is required if you are working from a default install of Ubuntu, and not much more is required for any linux distro – you just need to know how to use your package manager.

Furthermore, if any of these steps would cause you trouble (deleting .emacs* comes to mind), you probably already know how to handle it.

1. Install emacs, git, ant, and a java jdk (distro specific).

Ubuntu: sudo aptitude install emacs git-core ant openjdk-6-jdk

2. Install Emacs Lisp Package Archive (ELPA)

- Evaluate the install code
- OR evaluate at the cli (warning: rm -Rf ~/.emacs* might not do what you want)
rm -Rf ~/.emacs*
git clone git://github.com/technomancy/emacs-starter-kit.git ~/.emacs.d

3. Use ELPA to install clojure-mode

emacs
M-x package-install (M-x corresponds to ALT-x in emacs)

4. Install clojure (using a handy tool in clojure-mode)

M-x clojure-install

5. Do the following to allow slime to start once clojure-mode is activated

echo "(eval-after-load 'clojure-mode '(clojure-slime-config))" >> ~/.emacs.d/user'name.el

Run Clojure!

emacs foo.clj
M-x slime

Other notes:
- For cli setup, see Tim Riddell’s tutorials – I recommend the bash startup alias, in particular.
- For a longer explanation, see Phil Hagelberg’s post.

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