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Exact
Yogthos 44d4875a24 Strict reader tokens; edn mode with the reference's error contracts 
The reader now rejects what the JVM reader rejects: a token that starts
like a number but doesn't parse is NumberFormatException (1a, 08, 0x2g,
2r2 — never a symbol); ratio parts are digit runs (1/-1 invalid) with a
zero denominator throwing ArithmeticException; empty ns/name parts are
invalid tokens (:, ::, foo/, /foo) while /, ns//, and :/ stay valid;
duplicate map keys and set elements throw at read; unsupported string
escapes and octal escapes past \377 throw; a stray close delimiter is
'Unmatched delimiter'; \r ends line comments. #inst validates its
calendar fields progressively (leap years included) and #uuid demands
canonical hex. 1-arg symbol splits its ns at the FIRST slash
(Symbol.intern): (symbol "foo/bar/baz") is foo/"bar/baz".

clojure.edn gets its own strict seam (__read-form-edn): auto-resolved
keywords are invalid there, every #_ discarded form validates through the
same :readers/:default pipeline (an unreadable tagged element throws even
when discarded), built-in tags win over :default, M literals construct
BigDecimals, lists satisfy list?, and EOF honors :eof — an opts map
without :eof makes end-of-input an error.

clojure.edn-test.read-string goes 246 pass / 46 fail / 5 errors -> 297/0/0
(fully clean). cts baseline 5904 -> 5955 pass, 23 errors, 56 baselined
namespaces. 9 JVM-certified corpus rows; reader spec section.
2026-07-02 12:00:13 -04:00
..
00-front-matter.md Docs: Chez-only, drop the Janet-era references and obsolete migration notes 2026-06-22 09:05:35 -04:00
02-reader.md Strict reader tokens; edn mode with the reference's error contracts 2026-07-02 12:00:13 -04:00
03-special-forms.md spec: set! now supports deftype mutable fields 2026-06-22 01:19:21 -04:00
09-core-library.md clojure.string toString coercion; some-fn/ifn? reference semantics; misc host gaps 2026-07-02 11:38:37 -04:00
coverage.md Honor *print-length* / *print-level* / *default-data-reader-fn* 2026-06-26 19:04:42 -04:00
README.md Clean up codebase: rename stdlib layer, strip porting residue, fix tooling 2026-06-22 22:18:00 -04:00

README.md

The Clojure Language Specification (Draft)

A normative, implementation-independent specification of the Clojure language, developed alongside jolt's self-hosted compiler and validated by its executable conformance suites. Why: Clojure has no spec — every alternative implementation re-derives semantics from the reference implementation and folklore. See the RFC for motivation, scope, evidence sources, and process: ../rfc/0001-language-specification.md.

Documents

Doc Content Status
00-front-matter.md conformance terms, entry format, host classification drafted
02-reader.md token grammar + reader-macro catalog drafted
01, 04–08 see chapter plan in front matter planned
03-special-forms.md special-form catalog + normative exemplars (if, let*) exemplars
09-core-library.md per-var entry format + exemplars (first, reduce, parse-uuid) exemplars
coverage.md generated dashboard over the 694-var surface generated
../grammar.ebnf reader surface syntax (EBNF), companion to 02-reader.md reference

Regenerate the dashboard after surface changes: python3 tools/spec_coverage.py (reads tools/clojuredocs-export.json and probes a working jolt checkout via bin/joltc).

Current numbers (2026-06-22)

Of the 694 clojure.core vars in the ClojureDocs inventory, jolt interns 574. Broadly:

  • 568 implemented in jolt and exercised by the behavioral suites
  • 6 implemented but not directly tested — each gets a test with its spec entry
  • 6 portable but absent from jolt's resolvable surface (the REPL history vars *1/*2/*3/*e, plus letfn/re-groups, which work but aren't interned where resolve can see them) — tracked as gaps
  • the rest classified host/JVM/concurrency (see the dashboard for the full per-var breakdown — it is the source of truth)

How this connects to the test suites

  • test/chez/corpus.edn — the host-neutral behavioral corpus, one row per case ({:suite :label :expected :actual}). The Chez compiler evaluates each case via host/chez/run-corpus.ss (run with make corpus), and test/conformance/certify.clj certifies every :expected against reference JVM Clojure (run with make certify). Spec entries cite these cases.
  • test/conformance/ — the certification tooling and classified divergences (certify.clj, known-divergences.edn); see its README.md and SPEC.md.
  • vendor/clojure-test-suite — the cross-dialect suite (≥4081 assertions passing); dialect splits there are classification evidence.
  • jank's per-construct corpus (~/src/jank/compiler+runtime/test/jank) is the granularity model for §2/§3 conformance.

The invariant: every numbered normative statement names its conformance test, or is marked UNVERIFIED. The spec cannot drift from the implementations that check it.