(compile 'my.namespace) ;; writes .class files to *compile-path*Did you know:
Most libraries are distributed as source and you compile them over and over
You can compile namespaces explicitly using compile
Namespace compilation is transitive
compile writes these files to disk and require will use them
You can use compile on the namespace you load when you start development, or on your user.clj, or on the main namespace you run as a server to improve your startup time
The compile function takes a namespace symbol and compiles that namespace and all the namespaces it requires into *compile-path* (which defaults to classes). That directory must exist and be on your classpath:
(compile 'my.namespace) ;; writes .class files to *compile-path*Subsequently, when any of those compiled namespaces are required, the class file will be loaded, rather than the original .clj file. If a source file is updated (and thus newer), it will be loaded instead. Periodically, you will need to re-compile to account for new dependencies or changing code.
Note that compilation is a side effect of loading, so has no effect on already loaded namespaces. In particular, one special case is the user.clj file, which is loaded automatically by the Clojure runtime. If you are using a user.clj in dev (or need to compile namespaces that are already compiled), you can do so by forcing a reload while compiling:
(binding [*compile-files* true] ;; compile during load
(require 'user :reload-all)) ;; reload this and all transitively loaded namespacesThat’s it! This technique can substantially reduce your startup time during development, particularly as the number of dependencies you load increases.
In a deps.edn project, you should create a development alias (like :dev) that includes the classes directory:
{:deps { ... }
:aliases
{:dev {:extra-paths ["classes"]}}}You will also need to ensure the classes directory exists. It may be useful to include the empty classes directory as part of your version controlled project structure (make sure to ignore and NOT include the compiled .class files).
You can then start your REPL with the alias and compile to populate your classes directory and start seeing the benefits:
$ clj -A:dev
Clojure 1.10.1
user=> (compile 'my.namespace)If you want to use an automatically loaded user.clj, you should incorporate that into your dev alias by adding a source path dev:
{:deps { ... }
:aliases
{:dev {:extra-paths ["dev" "classes"]}}}And then create dev/user.clj:
(ns user
(:require ... ))
;; dev-only functions, etcRemember to use the modified compilation process for user.clj:
$ clj -A:dev
Clojure 1.10.1
user=> (binding [*compile-files* true] (require 'user :reload-all))Original author: Alex Miller