Last Updated: May 6, 2021

Introduction

This is a step-by-step guide aimed at beginners, for installing Clojure and setting up a productive development environment in Windows. We will be using:

1. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL 2)
2. Leiningen
3. VS Code
4. Calva

Steps:

Windows Terminal (optional)

1. Install Windows Terminal

   Get Windows Terminal - Microsoft Store en-NP

   Although not required, it is very highly recommended.

   If you plan to install it though, install it before you install WSL and distro(s) so that it integrates nicely with WSL.

WSL 2 & Linux Shell

From the Windows WSL docs,

"The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) lets developers run a GNU/Linux environment -- including most command-line tools, utilities, and applications -- directly on Windows, unmodified, without the overhead of a virtual machine."

WSL 2 is the latest version of WSL, with big architectural improvements that make it faster and support more stuff. So, although this works for WSL1 as well, WSL2 is recommended.

1. Install WSL 2 from here:

   Install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) on Windows 10

   I will be using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS for the remaining of this walkthrough

2. Open Linux shell. If you installed Windows terminal, use alternative 1. Else, use alternative 2.

   • Alternative 1 (If you've installed Windows terminal): Start the Windows terminal and switch to Ubuntu shell (click on the dropdown and select Ubuntu)

     

     That opens your Ubuntu shell

     

   • Alternative 2: In command promt or Powershell, enter wsl into the terminal

     

3. Move to your ~ directory

   cd ~
   

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