Clojure REPL for Android now available : Deep Blue Lambda

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Clojure REPL for Android now available

My Clojure REPL is now available on the Android Market. For now, there really is not all that much to it, but it does show that the full power of the Clojure language, including dynamic compilation, is possible on the Android platform.

The one extra feature the REPL includes is an embedded VimClojure server. I added this to the REPL in order to speed up development. In the end, instead of disabling that code, I simply made it an option that can be toggled by the user.

I do plan to develop the application further. Some of my ideas for new features include:

Make it easier to use, especially if a hardware keyboard is unavailable
Add the ability to run scripts from files

I will be publishing my modified Clojure source soon. At that time, I will describe in detail some of the changes that I have made, as well as some of the challenges that remain.

Of course, I am also interested in any feedback from users. So, please feel free to leave a comment, tweet, or e-mail me.

UPDATE: If you do not have access to an Android device and want to try it out on the SDK, the Clojure REPL is now availble from Deep Blue Lambda.

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Comments

On Wednesday, 16 Feb 2011 01:42, folone wrote the following:
Is the source going to be opened in the future?
On Wednesday, 16 Feb 2011 06:40, Daniel Solano Gómez wrote the following:
folone:
Yes, it will. The REPL depends on modified versions of Clojure and VimClojure, so they will have to be released first. This should all happen in the next few weeks.
I also looked at your REPL code, and it should not be too difficult to add Clojure support. The main limitation with my current implementation is that it only supports one global REPL, but it should not be too difficult to change this.
On Friday, 18 Feb 2011 07:56, Adam K wrote the following:
I like the app very much. Is there a way to get history? If not, I think a clever way of implementing it would be to be able to touch a previous command in the repl stack and have it prepopulate the box for evaluation or for editing.
On Friday, 18 Feb 2011 11:52, astine wrote the following:
Are you working towards a clojure/android development kit? If you are, I would like to help out.
On Friday, 18 Feb 2011 12:02, Daniel Solano Gómez wrote the following:
Adam K:
> I like the app very much. Is there a way to get history?
Thank you. History support isn't in, yet. But it is one of the next things I want to get implemented. I'll try to get it in over the weekend.
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astine:
> Are you working towards a clojure/android development kit?
I think that would be a great direction to go. It would be great to have some sort of library that can be included by developers to provide convenience functions, Emacs support via SWANK, etc.
On Friday, 18 Feb 2011 13:50, astine wrote the following:
I could certainly see having either a template project, or having some kind of a script which would make the necessary adjustments to the project (build.xml, clojure.jar, etc) after one ran the 'android create project' command.
On Friday, 18 Feb 2011 23:27, Daniel Solano Gómez wrote the following:
astine:
I agree. I think the most developer-friendly options will be to integrate with build tools such as Ant, Maven, Leiningen, etc.
On Wednesday, 23 Feb 2011 09:53, Adam K wrote the following:
Feature request: It would be nice if every time you entered a "(" (or "[" or "{") character, it would automatically enter in the matching end parenthesis, bracket, etc. Typing the paren is a real pain on the smartphone keyboard.
This could be an optional setting to have matching brackets.
On Wednesday, 23 Feb 2011 14:47, Daniel Solano Gómez wrote the following:
Adam K:
That's a good idea. I think the best way to go is to create a custom IME that will provide a more user-friendly keyboard, code completion, and your idea would fit nicely there.

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