Macros and Metaprogramming
In the same issue of CACM, a short-lived extensible-languages movement was kicked off by M. Douglas McIlroy with Macro Instruction Extensions of Compiler Languages [McI60].[76] Given Lisp’s sparse syntax and limited core feature set—and corresponding appetite for language extension—it was natural that three years later Timothy Hart would propose macros for addition to Lisp.[77]
Since Lisp code is also data, its users were already metaprogramming. The addition of macros after Lisp 1.5 added a macro-expansion phase to the interpretation of Lisp programs, giving things roughly the shape we see today. Macros provided for a faster path for programmers to extend Lisp. They could redefine core features on not much more ...
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