> If each LISP team is using their own DSL Lisp already comes with several different 'DSL' built-in: * object-system CLOS * format strings with control st

> If each LISP team is using their own DSL Lisp already comes with several different 'DSL' built-in: * object-system CLOS * format strings with control structures * LOOP If one programs in a language with flexible syntax, then a programmer has to learn how to deal with that: * what a the basic language extension patterns? * how can one debug it? * what a typical pitfalls? * what is good design? * how to document them? * how to present syntax errors to the user? Language extension suddenly is a developer activity and not a language designer activity. Much of the stuff in the Java-world, which has used DSLs with different syntax (like being based on XML), can be done directly in Lisp. A Lisp team will need to learn how to deal with that. There are Lisp code-bases which have been maintained for decades. Even the SBCL compiler, which is written in Lisp, has its roots in code from the 80s (the Python compiler of CMUCL - unrelated to the later language Python). Macros make things more complex, but the fear that macros make team programming or development of long-living code impossible is just wrong.