

"Macros are a net drawback" - silentbicycle
http://people.csail.mit.edu/jhbrown/macros/

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spitfire
The best quote was saved for last:

"Q: What do you get when programmers design a language while trying to get
something else done?

A: PHP"

Covers it all really.

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mkelly
This seems just like the general argument against extreme cleverness. Don't be
cleverer than you must, or nobody else will understand it and you won't be
able to debug it.

I think relatively simple macros are quite useful, but I agree with his
argument for complex ones. Where the line is between handwavy categories like
"relatively simple" and "complex", is beyond me at the moment.

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silentbicycle
Right. He's not saying, "macros are bad", he's saying, "macros often lead to
code that's very hard to maintain, and in the end many are more trouble than
they're worth". You can still do very powerful things without them in most
cases; as far as I recall, SICP has no macros.

Code conventions go a long way, though - with-* macros are easily understood,
for example.

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silentOpen
"Macros Considered Harmful"

"Macros: They're for Nazis"

"Macros are for Dirty Hippies"

"Macros are Just Like Goto"

Solid, rational arguments against macro use. Very readable/understandable
outline. Interesting topic.

I wish slideshare looked like this. :-P

