The Clojure library aws-simple-sign was in pre-release for more than six months. With a modest download count of just above 2,000 and no reported issues, I finally found the time to promote the 2.0.0-alpha1 release of to a stable version.
For those unfamiliar with aws-simple-sign, it generates presigned URLs for S3 objects and signs HTTP requests for AWS.
The Liquid templating language is essential for Jekyll and its themes. While a Clojure implementation exists in the form of a library named Wet 💧, ironically, the library is missing most functionality categorized as Tags > Template in the Liquid documentation.
Though we’ll touch on “writing code” in this next part of my adventure, it perfectly illustrates how problem-solving is more about thinking than just writing code.
This is the second part of the series: “A Clojure Jekyll adventure”, exploring how Clojure fares from a “Jekyll perspective”. You can find the previous part here: How my Jekyll blog became a Clojure adventure.
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On the 10th anniversary of Jekyll being my blog engine of choice, my curiosity (and spare time during the holidays) got the better of me. I wanted to explore how well Clojure would fare compared to the original Jekyll implementation in Ruby.
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Every time I heard people praise static types, I wondered why I didn’t share their enthusiasm. After careful reflection, I realized that static types don’t significantly influence how I approach or solve problems. I also didn’t experience fewer bugs, easier debugging, or greater team productivity when using them.
As software grows and challenges our ability to reason about it, we seek ways to regain clarity and confidence when making changes. I believe static types provide a sense of security as they are intended to help us manage complexity.
However, I think this sense of security can lead to complacency, causing developers to overlook more effective solutions.
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Plus 30 years ago, probably around seventh grade, I remember my teacher asking the classroom: How do you get better a writing essays and short stories?
She answered the question herself, and because it took me by surprise, I still remember it today. I had heard grown-ups with their wise words: If you want to be good at X, you have to practice X. X being anything from football to piano to cooking. My younger self had assumed that the best way to get better at writing would be:
To write.
But it wasn’t.
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