[R] Why is there no macro facility for R?

[Richard O'Keefe]

That was supposed to be section 6, not section 5.
That's what comes of sharing your keyboard with a cat...
https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-lang.html#Computing-on-the-language

On Fri, 23 May 2025 at 18:00, Richard O'Keefe <raoknz using gmail.com> wrote:
>
> R is closely modelled on S.  S was always designed to interoperate
> well with UNIX tools.
> Unix has always had cpp (for c-like languages) and m4
> (general-purpose) as outboard macro processors.
> Then too, the classic S Blue Book explained how to do "computing on
> the language'",
> see section 5 of R Language Definition,
> so the AST-based macro processor for R is called (drum roll please) R.
>
> On Fri, 23 May 2025 at 14:14, Sorkin, John <jsorkin using som.umaryland.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Colleagues,
> >
> > At the risk of being flamed, starting a war, being labeled a heretic . . . etc., I would like to ask the grey-hairs among the R listserve members a simple question. Why did the R core team not develop a macro language for R. I understand that R was designed to be a function-based language, but this does not rule out having macros as a facility that helps in code development.
> >
> > Thank you,
> > John
> >
> >
> > John David Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
> > Professor of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine;
> > Associate Director for Biostatistics and Informatics, Baltimore VA Medical Center Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center;
> > PI Biostatistics and Informatics Core, University of Maryland School of Medicine Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center;
> > Senior Statistician University of Maryland Center for Vascular Research;
> >
> > Division of Gerontology and Paliative Care,
> > 10 North Greene Street
> > GRECC (BT/18/GR)
> > Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
> > Cell phone 443-418-5382
> >
> >
> >
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