I always thought it was a historical choice that simple substitution languages were simpler to implement so were chosen as a default. It is kind of infuriating

I always thought it was a historical choice that simple substitution languages were simpler to implement so were chosen as a default. It is kind of infuriating that the preprocessor always feels simultaneously _too powerful_ and _not powerful enough_ for the jobs you want to get done. I find myself reaching for other tools (kaitai, m4 etc) a lot more these days to take the role.