Pre-West Prep: Alan Dipert and Micha Niskin

March 18, 2015

Talk: Boot Can Build It

Alan Dipert and Micha Niskin's talk at Clojure/West is about how Boot can be used as a build system for your projects.

Background

The main project tool in the Clojure community is Leiningen. In Leiningen, you write a project's configuration using a declarative syntax. In order to add build actions, you generally have to add plugins, which also need to be configured.

Boot takes a different approach, which is to code everything in Clojure. Boot is just a library and you script builds similar to how you might do so with shell scripts or Make, but you're in Clojure.

Micha at Boston Clojure Group (Youtube)

Boot, the Fancy New Clojure Build Framework

Boot is like the lisped-up lovechild of Git and Unix in that it provides abstractions that make it much more pleasant to write code that exists at the intersection of your operating system and your application.

Why it matters

Builds and deployments are getting more complex. A tool needs to be able to build a Docker container, push to Heroku, tag a release, spin up a server, etc. Can a tool built around declarative configuration and plugins keep up? The creators of Boot say the answer is "no". Boot's approach is different from Leiningen's, and so is not competing head-on, and yet still fills a need. Also, Boot's branding and developer pedigree seem to put it on firm foundation. There could be room for a second project tool. If there is, it will likely be Boot.

About Alan Dipert

GitHub - Twitter

About Micha Niskin

GitHub - Twitter

This post is one of a series called Pre-West Prep, which is also published by email. It's all about getting ready for the upcoming Clojure/West, organized by Cognitect. Conferences are ongoing conversations and explorations. Speakers discuss trends, best practices, and the future by drawing on the rich context built up in past conferences and other media.

That rich context is what Pre-West Prep is about. I want to enhance everyone's experience at the conference by surfacing that context. With just a little homework, we can be better prepared to understand and enjoy the talks and the hallway conversations.

Clojure/West is a conference organized and hosted by Cognitect. This information is in no way official. It is not sponsored by nor affiliated with Clojure/West or Cognitect. It is simply me (and helpers) curating and organizing public information about the conference.