parse.clj

; I've got a function like this:

(defn parse-from-bytes [type bytes] ...)

; that knows how to parse a binary protocol into a certain type.
; Custom parsers are generated for each type by a macro, say gen-parser:

(defmacro gen-parser [type] ...)

; So when you call parse-from-bytes, it checks to see whether a parser
; was previously generated for that type, and calls it.
;
; My thought for how to accomplish this was to define a private atom

(def ^{:private true} parser-cache (atom {}))

; and then have gen-parser emit code like

(swap! #'ns/parser-cache assoc type parse-fn)

; But this doesn't work because swap sees a var and not an atom.
; So my questions:
; 1. Is there a better overall approach I should be using?
; 2. (Assuming I want to keep parser-cache private) how can I refer
;    to a private atom?