I'm aware of the distinction. Data syntax from data formats is sometimes used directly for programming languages, too; the path from S-expressions to Lisp is ve

I'm aware of the distinction. Data syntax from data formats is sometimes used directly for programming languages, too; the path from S-expressions to Lisp is very short, too, and I write that as a lisper. A very relevant recent article is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24892297 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24892297 The point is that when we are talking about "JSON, but with macros" we already have a programming language in play, not merely just a data format. This is because macros are functions from text into text, or from data into data, and these functions require to be written in some sort of actual programming language. At this point the data format becomes an extension of this programming language, either some sort of input for functions in this programming language or another means of expressiong this language's syntax.