Throttle Functions with core.async

To solve your channel question you can use a chan with a sliding buffer:

user> (require '[clojure.core.async :as async])
nil
user> (def c (async/chan (async/sliding-buffer 1)))
#'user/c
user> (async/>!! c 1)
true
user> (async/>!! c 2)
true
user> (async/>!! c 3)
true
user> (async/<!! c)
3

that way only the last value put into the channel will be computed at the next interval.

You can use a debounce function.

I'll copy it out here:

(defn debounce [in ms]
  (let [out (chan)]
    (go-loop [last-val nil]
      (let [val (if (nil? last-val) (<! in) last-val)
            timer (timeout ms)
            [new-val ch] (alts! [in timer])]
        (condp = ch
          timer (do (>! out val) (recur nil))
          in (recur new-val))))
    out))

Here only when in has not emitted a message for ms is the last value it emitted forwarded onto the out channel. While in continues to emit without a long enough pause between emits then all-but-the-last-message are continuously discarded.

I've tested this function. It waits 4 seconds and then prints out 9, which is nearly what you asked for - some tweaking required!

(defn my-sender [to-chan values]
  (go-loop [[x & xs] values]
           (>! to-chan x)
           (when (seq xs) (recur xs))))

(defn my-receiver [from-chan f]
  (go-loop []
           (let [res (<! from-chan)]
             (f res)
             (recur))))

(defn setup-and-go []
  (let [in (chan)
        ch (debounce in 4000)
        sender (my-sender in (range 10))
        receiver (my-receiver ch #(log %))])) 

And this is the version of debounce that will output as required by the question, which is 0 immediately, then wait four seconds, then 9:

(defn debounce [in ms]
  (let [out (chan)]
    (go-loop [last-val nil
              first-time true]
             (let [val (if (nil? last-val) (<! in) last-val)
                   timer (timeout (if first-time 0 ms))
                   [new-val ch] (alts! [in timer])]
               (condp = ch
                 timer (do (>! out val) (recur nil false))
                 in (recur new-val false))))
    out)) 

I've used log rather than print as you did. You can't rely on ordinary println/print functions with core.async. See here for an explanation.