Oh, I absolutely agree that OO languages do gross things, too. If somebody gets me started on AbstractRequestProcessorFactoryFactory, or inappropriate use of in

Oh, I absolutely agree that OO languages do gross things, too. If somebody gets me started on AbstractRequestProcessorFactoryFactory, or inappropriate use of instance_eval, I can keep going for hours. :-) Overall, macros are a very useful tool. But there's a school of thought that sees them as the ultimate, universal abstraction. I'm no longer convinced by that argument. However, I do agree with your remark, elsewhere in this discussion, that The Reasoned Schemer is an extraordinary fine example of what macros can be used for. It's one of my all-time favorite programming books.