Spend any time around Clojure 's devoted community and you'll encounter a cluster of claims: the Read–Eval–Print Loop ("REPL") is what makes Clojure fundamentally different ( REPL – Wikipedia ) REPL-driven development supersedes the Edit–Compile–Run model typical of C-family, .NET and Java Clojure enables a uniquely live, exploratory way of building systems other languages "don't really have a REPL" These claims sound radical, historically grounded and quietly superior, but they are – alas – more rhetoric than fact. This article challenges established wisdom about Clojure in three areas: the REPL long predates Clojure Clojure neither invented nor uniquely exemplifies it several alternative REPL models outperform Clojure's on important engineering criteria To be clear, Clojure is a powerful language with dedicated supporters; so what follows is not an attack on Clojure, but a suggestion that its mythology needs a tweak.…