chapter four

Chapter 4. On scalars

 

It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.

Alfred North Whitehead[1]

1 Science and the Modern World (Macmillan, 1925).

This chapter covers

  • Understanding precision
  • Trying to be rational
  • When to use keywords
  • Symbolic resolution
  • Regular expressions—the second problem

So far, we’ve covered a somewhat eclectic mix of fun and practical concerns. This brings us to a point where we can dive deeper into a fundamental topic: how Clojure deals with scalar values, including numeric, symbolic, and regular expression values, and how they behave as data and sometimes as code.

4.1. Understanding precision

4.2. Trying to be rational

4.3. When to use keywords

4.4. Symbolic resolution

4.5. Regular expressions—the second problem

4.6. Summary