How do I get a default value from first in Clojure?

Question

(> 1 (first [])) returns NullPointerException.

How can I make (first []) return a default value, such as 0, instead of nil?

Answer 1

You can use or to bypass the nil value

(> 1 (or (first []) 0))

Because in Clojure, nil is treated as a falsy value.