"Don't know how to create ISeq from: Symbol" error in Clojure

Question

I have the following Clojure code and I'm not sure why it's not working:

(defn match (x y &optional binds)
  (cond
   ((eql x y) (values binds t))
   ((assoc x binds) (match (binding x binds) y binds))
   ((assoc y binds) (match x (binding y binds) binds))
   ((var? x) (values (cons (cons x y) binds) t))
   ((var? y) (values (cons (cons y x) binds) t))
   (t
    (when (and (consp x) (consp y))
      (multiple-value-bind (b2 yes)
                           (match (car x) (car y) binds)
        (and yes (match (cdr x) (cdr y) b2)))))))

(The code is translated from Paul Graham's ANSI Common Lisp book.)

When I run it, I get the following error:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Don't know how to create ISeq from: Symbol
clojure.lang.Compiler$CompilerException: NO_SOURCE_FILE:2: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Don't know how to create ISeq from: Symbol
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.analyze(Compiler.java:3713)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.analyzeSeq(Compiler.java:3848)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.analyze(Compiler.java:3698)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.access$200(Compiler.java:37)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler$DefExpr$Parser.parse(Compiler.java:343)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.analyzeSeq(Compiler.java:3858)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.analyze(Compiler.java:3698)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.analyzeSeq(Compiler.java:3848)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.analyze(Compiler.java:3698)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.analyze(Compiler.java:3671)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.eval(Compiler.java:3895)
        at clojure.lang.Repl.main(Repl.java:75)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at jline.ConsoleRunner.main(ConsoleRunner.java:69)
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Don't know how to create ISeq from: Symbol
        at clojure.lang.LazyCons.rest(LazyCons.java:64)
        at clojure.lang.ASeq.count(ASeq.java:85)
        at clojure.lang.RT.count(RT.java:486)
        at clojure.lang.Cons.count(Cons.java:41)
        at clojure.lang.Compiler.analyze(Compiler.java:3695)
        ... 16 more
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Don't know how to create ISeq from: Symbol
        at clojure.lang.LazyCons.first(LazyCons.java:44)
        at clojure.lang.LazyCons.rest(LazyCons.java:59)
        ... 20 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Don't know how to create ISeq from: Symbol
        at clojure.lang.RT.seqFrom(RT.java:465)
        at clojure.lang.RT.seq(RT.java:448)
        at clojure.seq__28.invoke(boot.clj:92)
        at clojure.every_QMARK___596.invoke(boot.clj:1180)
        at clojure.fn__1147$psig__1149.invoke(boot.clj:2155)
        at clojure.map__602$fn__605.invoke(boot.clj:1214)
        at clojure.lang.LazyCons.first(LazyCons.java:40)
        ... 21 more

What am I doing wrong here?

Solution 1

The problem is that I'm using parentheses ('(' and ')'), rather than square brackets ('[' and ']'), for the arguments list.

It should start out like this:

(defn match [x y &optional binds]

(I found the answer in Programming Clojure by Stuart Halloway.)

Solution 2

Also, the cond form doesn't use parens for its clauses:

(cond
  test1 eval1
  test2 eval2
  :else eval3)

Solution 3

The main answer was already given (function arguments are in [] not () in clojure) but before trying to mess with code from Common Lisp sources, I'd recommend actually learning Clojure's syntax, as it is NOT anything close to a pure CL port, at all. You're just going to get into trouble treating it like it is.

Solution 4

This seems to be a symptom for various syntax errors.

I've had it when accidentally writing a . after the docstring, i.e. "bla bla". instead of "bla bla.". It was rather hard to find, because the line number in the error message was incorrect.

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