From: Todd Gillespie Date: 2002-02-22T05:59:02+09:00 Subject: Re: REBOL vs Ruby Robert Feldt wrote: : On Thu, 21 Feb 2002, Todd Gillespie wrote: :> As for readability, doesn't every code shop have their own collection of :> in-house hacks and libraries? Don't you need to understand their API (a :> dialect, if you will) to understand their programs? :> : You're probably right. I'm coming from a macros-hinders-readability : viewpoint but more and more leaning towards they being important and : powerful while not making a whole lot of difference regarding readability : (readability is more up to how they are used). Something I didn't point out is that many of the macros in Common LISP were found at most shops even before the standard was written. So in this case, the community formed a larger standard, and in much less time than it took to get it past ANSI. So there's a strong argument in favor of macros spreading by market forces (much more effectively than most code). I think this is because macros are at the same time much more powerful than normal functions, and much more difficult to write. So when someone writes a good macro, there's strong impetus for reuse. Given that everyone uses the net to share open libraries now, this trend should only accelerate.