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Product Overview: Cursive – The IDE for Clojure and ClojureScript
Introduction
Cursive is a sophisticated Integrated Development Environment (IDE) specifically designed for Clojure and ClojureScript development. Built on the robust IntelliJ platform, Cursive leverages advanced static analysis and IntelliJ’s indexing infrastructure to provide a comprehensive and intuitive development environment.
Key Features
Intelligent Editor
Cursive features an intelligent editor that includes code completion, syntax highlighting, and real-time error highlighting. This ensures that developers can write and debug code efficiently, with immediate feedback on errors and suggestions for improvements.
Code Navigation
The IDE offers advanced code navigation tools, including project and structure views, navigation to symbols, namespaces, classes, and the ability to find usages. These features make it easier to understand and navigate complex codebases.
REPL Integration
Cursive provides full integration with nREPL and `clojure.main` style REPLs for both Clojure and ClojureScript. This allows developers to interactively evaluate code, making the development process more dynamic and interactive.
Test Integration
The IDE supports interactive running of `clojure.test` tests, with failures marked directly in the editor and visual diffs for easier debugging. This streamlines the testing process and reduces the time spent on debugging.
Leiningen Support
Cursive offers full support for Leiningen, including support for large multi-module projects. This makes it easier to manage dependencies and build projects using Leiningen.
Structural Editing and Code Formatting
The IDE includes support for paredit style editing and smart, customizable code formatting. These features help maintain consistent code style and structure, enhancing readability and maintainability.
Clojure Debugger
Cursive includes a full-featured debugger for Clojure, allowing expression evaluation and debug REPLs. This facilitates in-depth debugging and troubleshooting of Clojure applications.
Refactorings
The IDE provides seamless refactorings such as rename, extract let, automatic imports and requires, and more. These refactorings are enabled by the static analysis and indexing capabilities of IntelliJ.
Interop Support
Cursive offers best-in-class support for Java interop, including smart completion using type inference. This makes it easier to integrate Java code into Clojure projects and vice versa.
Version Control and Project Management
Built on the IntelliJ platform, Cursive inherits advanced project management and version control integration capabilities, making it easy to manage projects across all platforms.
Unique Approach
Unlike many other Clojure development environments that rely heavily on REPL-based workflows, Cursive uses static analysis of the source code. This approach, combined with IntelliJ’s indexing infrastructure, enables features such as Find Usages, refactorings, and in-editor inspections that are not possible in traditional REPL-based environments.
Licensing and Availability
Cursive is available as an IntelliJ plugin for both the Community and Ultimate editions of IntelliJ. It also offers a free non-commercial license for open-source work, personal hacking, and student projects. In the future, it will be available as a standalone Clojure-focused IDE.
In summary, Cursive is a powerful and feature-rich IDE tailored for Clojure and ClojureScript development, offering a range of advanced tools and integrations that enhance the development experience.
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