Libpython-clj + ClojisR clj-template

This template is the easiest way to use R + python from Clojure.

In the world of Java / Clojure Docker is not that common, because on the JVM platform using Docker instead of a JVM dependency manger (maven, lein, gradle ...) is not really required.

This situation changes, the moment we add R / python into our stack, because both might have operating system dependencies in their packages.

Then Docker can be very helpfull to get started quickly and work in a reproducible manner.

This template contains a Dockerfile which has Clojure and all dependencies for ClojisR + libpython-clj plus a deps.edn file containing working versions of ClojisR and libpython-clj

Usage

Clojure projects including libpython-clj + ClojisR can now be created quickly in 2 ways from the latest stable template:

• without clj-new installed in user deps.edn

# example
clj -Sdeps '{:deps {seancorfield/clj-new {:mvn/version "1.0.199"}}}' \
  -m clj-new.create clj-py-r-template appcompany.funapp

• with clj-new installed in user deps.edn (recommended)

# example
clj -A:new clj-py-r-template appcompany.funapp

NOTE: this assumes you have clj-new configured in your ~/.clojure/deps.edn profile.

Specific versions of this template can be used by adding something like "-V 1.0.2" to the upper commands

Creating docker image

The template creates a Dockerfile in the project folder. The docker image can be build with

cd appcompany.funapp
docker build . -t funapp

The Dockerfile assumes that the local project directory gets mounted into a folder in the container and that it becomes the working directory. The docker image runs a nRepl on port 12345 which can be connected to by any other nRepl compatible client (including emacs+Cider)

A typical command line for running the nRepl server in a docker container is then this:

docker run -ti \
  -v `pwd`:/code -w /code \
 -p 12345:12345 funapp

Using ClojisR + libpython-clj in repl

Now Emacs (or any other nRepl client) can be connected to localhost:12345.

Example to use clj as nRepl client:

clj -Sdeps '{:deps {cider/cider-nrepl {:mvn/version "0.25.2"} }}' -m nrepl.cmdline  --middleware "[cider.nrepl/cider-middleware]" -c -p 12345

In this connected repl , cljisr and libpython.clj work out of the box:

(require '[libpython-clj.require :refer [require-python]])
(require-python '[os :as os])
(os/getcwd)

(require '[clojisr.v1.r :refer [r]])
(r "1+1")
        

Customizing the Docker image (typicall to add R / python libraries)

As in the Docker image one single R version and one single python version is installed, libraries can be simply added by adding a few lines to the Dockerfile.

In case native dependencies are required, they can be added via "apt-get install"

The follwoing would add a native library, a python library and a R package.

RUN apt-get install libssl-dev

RUN pip3 install pandas

RUN Rscript -e "install.packages('dplyr')"

Clojure dependencies are currently not specified in the Dockerfile, but can be added to the deps.edn file.

Current versions

The versions of this template contains the following versions of dependencies in either Dockerfile or deps.end

1.0.2

Docker base image: rocker/r-ver:4.0.0

dependency	version
clojure	1.10.1
R	4.0.0
java	openjdk 11
python	3.8.2
RServe	latest from rforge.net
clj-python/libpython-clj	1.45
scicloj/clojisr	1.0.0-BETA11
cider-nrepl	0.25.2

1.0.3

Docker base image: rocker/r-ver:4.0.0

dependency	version
clojure	1.10.1
R	4.0.0
java	openjdk 11
python	3.8.2
RServe	1.8-7
clj-python/libpython-clj	1.45
scicloj/clojisr	1.0.0-BETA11
cider-nrepl	0.25.2

1.0.4

Docker base image: rocker/r-ver:4.0.2

dependency	version
clojure	1.10.1
R	4.0.2
java	openjdk 11
python	3.8.5
RServe	1.8-7
clj-python/libpython-clj	1.45
scicloj/clojisr	1.0.0-BETA15
cider-nrepl	0.25.2

1.1.0

Docker base image: rocker/r-ver:4.0.3

dependency	version
clojure	1.10.1
R	4.0.3
java	openjdk 11
python	3.8.6
RServe	1.8-7
tablecloth	5.00-beta-5a
tech.ml.dataset	5.00-beta-5
clj-python/libpython-clj	2.0.0-alpha-6
scicloj/clojisr	1.0.0-BETA16
notespace	3-alpha2
cider-nrepl	0.25.5