> eli5 metaprogramming Metaprogramming is "programming programming". Consider "programming" as writing a series of steps for a computer to follow. Metaprogramm

> eli5 metaprogramming Metaprogramming is "programming programming". Consider "programming" as writing a series of steps for a computer to follow. Metaprogramming is writing a series of steps for a computer to follow to write a series of steps for a computer to follow. When working with LISP, metaprogramming is just a normal way to program things that's built into the language. Rather than writing everything as a linear program as you would in conventional languages, you can write a program that "writes itself" (or modifies parts of itself). While you could meta-program in many languages (using code generators and whatnot), in LISP this is easy because the programs themselves are written in a way that makes them easy to be manipulated by other parts of the program. This is why you'll see so many parentheses when looking at LISP code. The simplicity of the syntax is also what makes it so powerful. Metaprogramming is a technique that often results in much shorter programs which can make single programmers very effective. The downside is that the higher level of abstraction (leaving ELI5 zone here, sorry) can make the workings of LISP programs quite opaque to newcomers as things seem a lot like magic. Therefore preserving the metaprogramming advantages in larger teams requires _especially_ good documentation and attention to design.