Steve Yegge is one of my favorite bloggers. I read “You Should Write Blogs” a long time ago and it is one of the main reasons that I still try to keep this blog going at all. He recently took a blogging hiatus and in his return post, he left a little hint that he was interested in a programming language called clojure.

My programming skills have been rusting away (Darn those patients, always getting sick and stuff!), so I’ve been looking for a little inspiration. I’m hoping that clojure is it. I’ve always wanted to learn lisp. I know a little elisp and scheme, but I’ve never gotten comfortable with them. Clojure compiles code that runs on a JVM (java virtual machine). This gives you a lot of the “power” of java, namely the extensive libraries and the widespread platforms on which it will run. But instead of having to write java, you get to write in a dynamic, lisp-like language. At least that’s how I understand it.

Specifically, I hope that I’ll eventually be able to create applications that run on android phones, which is a java environment. Smartphones are clearly going to be a huge part of the future, if not the way of the future. I don’t see myself ever buying an iPhone and Mala already has a Droid Eris that I’d be able to play with if I needed. (Didn’t tell you that, did I Mala?) So… Android it is.

Starting today, I’m going to start reading about clojure and taking notes (and maybe even posting them!). I’ve never been very good about taking notes, ever in my life. But, I clearly need to learn.