(assoc foo "bar"   
    (assoc (get foo "bar") "alice"   
      (assoc (get (get foo "bar") "alice") "bob" 12)))

vs

  foo.bar.alice.bob = 12;

  (assoc-in foo ["bar" "alice" "bob"] 12)

Of course, in clojure you mostly use :keywords instead "strings" as keys which has a ton of benefits.

There's also specter if want something more powerful at the cost of an additional lib.

https://github.com/nathanmarz/specter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh5J4vacG98