If you are going to program in Clojure, it stands to reason that you will need a Clojure compiler. The surprising thing is that most people never do this themselves. Instead, they rely on one of two tools to do it for them.

LightTable

This is a very nice editor for Clojure. (Also see the Editors Page). The first time you start it and try to edit a Clojure program, it will fetch the compiler for you.

Leiningen

If you are working from a command line and want to use Emacs or Vim instead, then you will need to get a tool called Leiningen. It is usually just called lein. The Leiningen page has an install link.

Leiningen is written to replace/compete with the Ant build system, at least as far as Clojure is concerned. You can read the short story Leiningen vs the Ants if you have some extra time and want to nurture your phobia of being eaten alive by ants.