Clojurists Together announced a sponsorship for a project by Siyoung Byun – Scicloj - Building Bridges to New Clojure Users for Q2 2025.

Here is a summary of the first update for the project - any comments would be greatly appreciated 🙏

Clojurists Together update - July 2025 - Siyoung Byun #

Work Completed, In Progress and Further Plans #

CFD Python into Clojure Project #

I initiated the CFD Python into Clojure project, which translates computational fluid dynamics (CFD) learning steps from Python into Clojure. The project also includes a currently evolving notebook page that shows the learning steps progressed so far for the project. This project showcases interactive, real-world scientific computing examples with an initiative to diversify the set of data science use cases available in Clojure.

I am working toward completing and polishing the project as a featured example of Clojure’s capability in handling scientific computing and numerical simulation use cases. I am planning to discuss the results and experiences at a future SciCloj Light Conference.

Conference Presentation at SciCloj Light #1 #

I presented a talk at SciCloj Light #1, highlighting the progress (implementing one-dimensional CFD using Burgers' equation), simulations, and future directions from the CFD Python into Clojure initiative. The talk demonstrated how Clojure can serve as a powerful tool in data science and data analysis.

Conference Reflections and Scicloj Community Video #

I co-authored and released a video summarizing the SciCloj Light #1 conference experience, along with publishing a written conference survey to gather feedback and reflect on future SciCloj Light conferences with Daniel Slutsky. The video discusses the preparation process, key takeaways, and future directions for Scicloj as a community-driven initiative and as an individual contributor.

Community Outreach Initiative for Broader Participation #

I initiated and participated in a community discussion on Clojurian Zulip to encourage Scicloj contributors and users to present at external data science conferences and share their experiences using Clojure and Scicloj libraries for their data science work. This outreach aims to amplify Clojure’s visibility in broader scientific and data communities to obtain more attention and bring newcomers to the community.

Documentation Improvements for Noj #

I joined as one of the maintainers of Noj, an out-of-the-box Clojure library designed to simplify data science workflows. Currently, I’ve been focusing on improving the library’s introductory documentation, setup guides, and use cases in notebooks to make it more welcoming and useful to newcomers. There are already good use cases, ideas, and documentation in the library, so my main goal is to make those resources more coherent, consistent, and organized to be easily searchable. Once we have well-tailored documentation in place for Noj, we hope to roll out the same documentation template for the rest of the Scicloj libraries.

Library Documentation Review and Feedback Collection #

I am actively gathering feedback on gaps and pain points in the documentation of various Scicloj libraries through the Clojurian Zulip channel.

Improving “Getting Started” Experiences #

I am continuing to improve the beginner documentation and setup processes across Scicloj libraries, with a goal of creating a smoother onboarding experience for users with diverse backgrounds.

Organizing ‘macroexpand’ Gatherings #

I will co-organize a series of regular online community meetups called macroexpand gatherings. These are aimed at welcoming both new and existing Clojure users and will foster communication across communities working on professional data projects (data engineering, analysis, visualization, etc.) and identify shared challenges and opportunities for collaboration. By hosting a space to discuss the current status of the community/individuals and challenges together, we hope to prioritize our todos and initiatives better and create actionable items to move forward.