Getting Clojure

Records Are Maps

No matter how you create your record instances, once you have them in hand you can treat them just like maps with keyword keys:

(:name elizabeth)     ; => "Elizabeth Bennet"
(:appears-in watson)  ; => "Sign of the Four"

The resemblance between records and maps is much more than skin- (or keyword?) deep: Any function that works with a map will also work with a record:

(count elizabeth)     ; => 3
(keys watson)         ; => (:name :appears-in :author)

You can also use assoc to modify the values in your record:

(def specific-watson (assoc watson :appears-in "Sign of the Four"))

You can even assoc brand-new, not-in-the-record-type keys into your record instances:

(def more-about-watson (assoc watson :address "221B Baker Street" ...