frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

Open in hackernews

LSP client in Clojure in 200 lines of code

https://vlaaad.github.io/lsp-client-in-200-lines-of-code
164•vlaaad•2mo ago

Comments

whalesalad•2mo ago
This is the most Java-y Clojure I’ve probably ever read. Just use Java? It’s so verbose and complex for what it is doing. Breaking this down into smaller functions and using core.async would make it even more succinct.

Just want to emphasize this because clojure is indeed a small, lesser known language that has a hard enough time attracting users. This is not what anyone would consider an idiomatic example of using clojure.

roenxi•2mo ago
Would it be 200 lines of Java? It'd be 200 lines of just for the boilerplate. It isn't really a selling point of Clojure because it is subjective, but low-syntax high-terseness look of the code is in itself a reward for using the language.

And there isn't anything especially wrong with sticking to Java primitives if someone is comfortable with them. They work fine for Java programmers. The dude doesn't need to learn a new async library to write an LSP client if he doesn't feel like it. Code works, its easy to read, easy to understand and modify.

koito17•2mo ago
Line count is not very useful to compare without the context of standard library size, third-party dependencies, etc. The code in TFA depends[1] on a JSON library[2] that is about a thousand lines of code (excluding tests) wrapping a Java library for JSON decoding.

Then there's other things to consider, like the fact that this LSP client, while succinct, pays not only the cost of loading Jackson, but also the cost of loading clojure.core, which is quite non-trivial[3]. Startup time for LSP servers and clients definitely matters to some, considering that e.g. even clojure-lsp recommends running native executables over JAR files[4]. Can't find documentation proving it's for quick startup, but it's a plausible rationale for their recommendation of a binary over a JAR.

Note: I have used Clojure professionally and in hobby projects. I think it's nice that one can interactively develop a minimal LSP client and the resulting amount of work is roughly 200 lines of code. I say "minimal" because it's unclear how this client deals with offsets reported by LSP servers, which are all given as offsets in a UTF-16 encoded string. In any case, I still think advertising "LSP client in 200 lines of code" hides valuable information regarding functionality, implementation, "actual" code size, and trade-offs made in the choice of technology stack.

[1] https://github.com/vlaaad/lsp-clj-client/blob/a567e66/deps.e...

[2] https://github.com/metosin/jsonista/blob/c8f2b62/project.clj...

[3] https://clojure-goes-fast.com/blog/clojures-slow-start/#cloj...

[4] https://clojure-lsp.io/installation/#embedded-jar-legacy-exe...

pron•2mo ago
Between records and compact classes [1] Java's boilerplate isn't what it once was.

[1]: https://openjdk.org/jeps/512

newlisp•2mo ago
It's idiomatic "low-level" Clojure, though. Not everything is a happy place where you're just manipulating maps and vectors like in most examples.
0x1ceb00da•2mo ago
> lesser known language that has a hard enough time attracting users

For very good reasons.

dig1•2mo ago
I don't see why this wouldn't be considered idiomatic clojure code; it makes proper use of all the facilities provided by the language and the main intention of this code is to follow the article. Additionally, the clojure core team often encourages not to shy away from using java code directly, as this approach strikes a good balance between performance and language expressivity.

> It’s so verbose and complex for what it is doing. ... and using core.async

I think this code is actually quite straightforward and easy for a clojure developer to understand. In fact, using core.async in this case would be overkill and could complicate things further.

daveliepmann•2mo ago
This looks like the other completely normal, idiomatic Clojure programs I've seen which manipulate a StringBuilder. And as Clojurians go I'm far to the succinctness/concision-preferring end of the spectrum.

I'm curious to see your core.async-based version :)

askonomm•2mo ago
Holy crap is this unreadable or what (notably the lsp-base fn). There's a reason why in most Clojure companies I've worked at we try to make as small functions as possible, because otherwise it very very quickly becomes an unreadable mess, and you write code after all for humans to read, because if you didn't, you might as well just write binary. But, I'm not surprised many people don't want to get into Clojure or Lisps in general, because it takes a boatload of conventions and active discipline to make it a good experience.
slifin•2mo ago
To me something unreadable is code that I cannot statically make any assertions about the runtime behaviour of the code

This function you're complaining about looks like 2 virtual threads doing program input reading and output writing for the LSP client given some ArrayBlockingQueues in about 25-30 lines

If I wanted the complete story I could use Clojure's inbuilt test runner to slip some ArrayBlockingQueues in there and run it under record with Flowstorm

Then leisurely seek through the entire state of the program, to get the play-by-play of how this works

There are so many good design choices in this language and a good 30% of colleagues I run into are not even doing the basics of like running a REPL, I think some people just need to clock in with a decade of C# or PHP or TS or JS or Python or whatever to get a taste of a language with next to no inbuilt immutability, statements instead of expressions, no reload-ability in the language semantics and just crapshot debuggers that run in lockstep with the program execution

Separation of storage and compute without a performance tradeoff

https://neon.com/blog/separation-of-storage-and-compute-perf
1•davidgomes•4m ago•0 comments

Development in Progress

https://consilienceproject.org/development-in-progress/
1•arunkd13•14m ago•0 comments

Damn Small Link Forwarder (DSLF) – rust based bit.ly replacement

https://github.com/vpetersson/dslf
2•mvip•15m ago•0 comments

Systemd's Nuts and Bolts – A Visual Guide to Systemd

https://medium.com/@sebastiancarlos/systemds-nuts-and-bolts-0ae7995e45d3
1•ssernikk•20m ago•0 comments

Attended Windsurf's Build Night 18 hours before founders joined Google DeepMind

1•schwentkerr•26m ago•0 comments

Malware Found in Official GravityForms Plugin Indicating Supply Chain Breach

https://patchstack.com/articles/critical-malware-found-in-gravityforms-official-plugin-site/
2•taubek•27m ago•0 comments

Google Glass Wasn't a Failure. It Raised Crucial Concerns

https://www.wired.com/story/google-glass-reasonable-expectation-of-privacy/
3•Bluestein•29m ago•0 comments

Milgram shock-study imaginal replication: how far do you think you would go?

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-025-07962-1?
1•XzetaU8•30m ago•0 comments

One California worker dead, hundreds arrested after cannabis farm raid

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/one-california-worker-dead-hundreds-arrested-after-cannabis-farm-raid-2025-07-11/
1•perihelions•31m ago•0 comments

Science Fiction, the Future, and Now: Some Mid-Life Reflections

https://fafnir.journal.fi/article/view/156305/101846
2•jruohonen•32m ago•1 comments

Show HN: XUtil – 40+ fast, privacy-friendly developer tools (no ads, no fluff)

https://xutil.in
3•RohitPModani•35m ago•0 comments

Longevity Might Be All in Your Head

https://nautil.us/longevity-might-be-all-in-your-head-1223517/
2•XzetaU8•44m ago•0 comments

White-sounding names get called back for jobs more than Black ones, study finds

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/11/1243713272/resume-bias-study-white-names-black-names
1•Bluestein•46m ago•0 comments

AI therapy bots fuel delusions and give dangerous advice, Stanford study finds

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/ai-therapy-bots-fuel-delusions-and-give-dangerous-advice-stanford-study-finds/
3•olyellybelly•47m ago•1 comments

The Great Exhibition of 1851

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/100717
2•jruohonen•50m ago•0 comments

Indeed, Glassdoor to lay off 1,300 staff amid AI push

https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/indeed-glassdoor-to-lay-off-1300-staff/
1•Michelangelo11•53m ago•0 comments

Depopulation won't stop climate change

https://www.cremieux.xyz/p/go-ahead-and-have-kids
2•MrBuddyCasino•58m ago•1 comments

curl Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Request

https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2025/07/11/cybersecurity-risk-assessment-request/
2•pabs3•59m ago•0 comments

PocketBase to OpenAPI Converter

https://ziadsafwat.github.io/PocketBase-to-OpenAPI-Converter/
1•thunderbong•1h ago•0 comments

Ask HN: What do you do with your list of articles links?

4•electricant•1h ago•3 comments

Oliver Heaviside: Pioneer of Electromagnetism and Vector Calculus

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/oliver-heaviside-self-taught-pioneer-electromagnetism-vector-calculus/
1•peter_retief•1h ago•0 comments

Even during the war, Ukraine is contributing to the global history of AI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPT-4
1•Kizert•1h ago•0 comments

Even Realities G1 Smart Glasses Review: Superb Display, but Slow Info (2024)

https://www.wired.com/review/review-even-realities-g1-smart-glasses/
2•stacktrust•1h ago•0 comments

AI Startups are just Big Techs low cost L&D department

https://centreforaileadership.org/resources/opinion_startups_are_just_big_tech_rnd_now/
2•hatenberg•1h ago•0 comments

What Could a Healthy AI Companion Look Like?

https://www.wired.com/story/tolan-chatbot-ai-companion/
1•swyx•1h ago•0 comments

BootLoop: AI Agent for Hardware Software

https://bootloop.ai/
1•handfuloflight•1h ago•0 comments

Code search 40% faster for 100M+ line codebases with quantized vector search

https://www.augmentcode.com/blog/repo-scale-100M-line-codebase-quantized-vector-search
1•handfuloflight•1h ago•0 comments

Dismantling Public Values, One Data Center at the Time

https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/reimagining-public-values-in-algorithmic-futures/whats-new/dismantling-public-values-one-data-center-at-the-time
4•jruohonen•1h ago•1 comments

France launches criminal investigation into Musk's X over algorithm manipulation

https://www.politico.eu/article/france-opens-criminal-probe-into-x-for-algorithm-manipulation/
8•c420•1h ago•0 comments

Sport and longevity: an observational study of international athletes

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39129051/
1•mgh2•1h ago•1 comments