Common LISP seems like it would be a prime language to do something like this. Since one of the core tenets of the language is that all code is data, no? That

Common LISP seems like it would be a prime language to do something like this. Since one of the core tenets of the language is that all code is data, no? That said, I'm not sure it is exactly what you are asking. They still somewhat expect you to have the system defined in a central spot as far as what all you depend on. Which I think you are almost always going to want. That is, if you want individual files to be able to specify dependencies, that is probably doable; but you are almost certainly going to want something to pull those up to a central spot. If only so that you can work with it as a cohesive unit? I get that you can feel these are somewhat redundant. But they are also meaningful? You could, similarly, not use any imports on a Java program and just fully qualify names as you use them. Such that imports could similarly be seen as redundant/unnecessary. At some point, you will want a place to say what names can and cannot be used in execution. Which ultimately puts you back in the same game.