In Clojure, when should I use a vector over a list, and the other way around?

list vector clojure sequences
Rayne picture Rayne · Jul 18, 2009 · Viewed 25.7k times · Source

I read that Vectors are not seqs, but Lists are. I'm not sure what the rationale is for using one over the other. It seems that vectors are used the most, but is there a reason for that?

Answer

Rayne picture Rayne · Jul 18, 2009

Once again, it seems I've answered my own question by getting impatient and asking it in #clojure on Freenode. Good thing answering your own questions is encouraged on Stackoverflow.com :D

I had a quick discussion with Rich Hickey, and here is the gist of it.

[12:21] <Raynes>    Vectors aren't seqs, right?
[12:21] <rhickey>   Raynes: no, but they are sequential
[12:21] <rhickey>   ,(sequential? [1 2 3])
[12:21] <clojurebot>    true
[12:22] <Raynes>    When would you want to use a list over a vector?
[12:22] <rhickey>   when generating code, when generating back-to-front
[12:23] <rhickey>   not too often in Clojure

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