into vs. partition - clojure

Question

This makes sense:
user=> (into {} [[:a 1] [:b 2]])
{:a 1, :b 2}
But why does this generate an error?
user=> (into {} (partition 2 [:a 1 :b 2]))
ClassCastException clojure.lang.Keyword cannot be cast to java.util.Map$Entry clojure.lang.ATransientMap.conj (ATransientMap.java:44)
Just to be sure:
user=> (partition 2 [:a 1 :b 2])
((:a 1) (:b 2))
Does into have a problem with lazy sequences? If so, why?
Beyond an explanation of why this doesn't work, what is the recommended way to conj a sequence of key-value pairs like [:a 1 :b 2] into a map? (apply conj doesn't seem to work, either.)

Answer 1

You can apply the sequence to assoc:
(apply assoc {:foo 1} [:a 1 :b 2])
=> {:foo 1, :a 1, :b 2}
Does into have a problem with lazy sequences? If so, why?
No, into is commonly used with lazily evaluated sequences. This is lazy, but each key/value tuple is a vector, which is why it works when into is reducing the pairs into the map:
(into {} (map vector (range 3) (repeat :x)))
=> {0 :x, 1 :x, 2 :x}
This doesn't work because the key/value pairs are lists:
(into {} (map list (range 3) (repeat :x)))
So the difference isn't laziness; it's due to into using reduce using conj on the map, which only works with vector key/value pairs (or MapEntrys):
(conj {} [:a 1]) ;; ok
(conj {} (MapEntry. :a 1)) ;; ok
(conj {} '(:a 1)) ;; not ok
Update: assoc wrapper for applying empty/nil sequences as suggested in comments:
(defn assoc*
([m] m)
([m k v & kvs]
(apply assoc m k v kvs)))

Answer 2

The recommended way – (assuming the seq arg is non-empty, as pointed out by the OP) – would be
Clojure 1.9.0
user=> (apply assoc {} [:a 1 :b 2])
{:a 1, :b 2}
The version with partition doesn't work because the blocks that partition returns are seqs and those are not treated as map entries when conj'd on to a map the way vectors and actual map entries are.
E.g. (into {} (map vec) (partition 2 [:a 1 :b 2])) would work because here the pairs get converted to vectors before conjing.
Still the approach with assoc is preferable unless there's some particular circumstance that makes into convenient (like, say, if you have a bunch of transducers that you want to use for preprocessing your partition-generated pairs etc.).

Answer 3

Clojure treats a 2-vec such as [:a 1] as equivalent to a MapEntry, doing what amounts to "automatic type conversion". I try to avoid this and always be explicit.
(first {:a 1}) => <#clojure.lang.MapEntry [:a 1]>
(conj {:a 1} [:b 2]) => <#clojure.lang.PersistentArrayMap {:a 1, :b 2}>
So we see that a MapEntry prints like a vector but has a different type (just like a Clojure seq prints like a list but has a different type). seq converts a Clojure map into a sequence of MapEntry's, and first gets us the first one (most Clojure functions call (seq ...) on any input collections before any other processing).
Notice that conj does the inverse type conversion, treating the vector [:b 2] as if it were a MapEntry. However, conj won't perform automatic type conversion for a list or a seq:
(throws? (conj {:a 1} '(:b 2)))
(throws? (into {:a 1} '(:b 2)))
into has the same problem since it is basically just (reduce conj <1st-arg> <2nd-seq>).
The other answers already have 3 ways that work:
(assoc {} :b 2) => {:b 2}
(conj {} [:b 2]) => {:b 2}
(into {} [[:a 1] [:b 2]]) => {:a 1, :b 2}
However, I would avoid those and stick to either hash-map or sorted-map, both of which avoid the problem of empty input seqs:
(apply hash-map []) => {} ; works for empty input seq
(apply hash-map [:a 1 :b 2]) => {:b 2, :a 1}
If your input sequence is a list of pairs, flatten is sometimes helpful:
(apply sorted-map (flatten [[:a 1] [:b 2]])) => {:a 1, :b 2}
(apply hash-map (flatten '((:a 1) (:b 2)))) => {:a 1, :b 2}
P.S.
Please be note that these are not the same:
java.util.Map$Entry (listed in jdk docs as "Map.Entry")
clojure.lang.MapEntry
P.P.S
If you already have a map and want to merge in a (possibly empty) sequence of key-value pairs, just use a combination of into and hash-map:
(into {:a 1} (apply hash-map [])) => {:a 1}
(into {:a 1} (apply hash-map [:b 2])) => {:a 1, :b 2}