Thanks a lot for that very comprehensive and insightful answer! Still digesting it... :-) I did quite a bit of work in Postscript, it's a fun and interesting

Thanks a lot for that very comprehensive and insightful answer! Still digesting it... :-) I did quite a bit of work in Postscript, it's a fun and interesting language. A guess: 1. compile-time metaprogramming is where the magic is. That is the superpower. 2. as you mentioned, compile-time metaprogramming is quite a bit easier when you have a language with little to no syntax. Hence Lisp and Forth. 3. Not having syntax, or maybe more precisely: having a programming model that does not require syntax, is the fatal flaw. 4. Where we are today, the two actually are coupled. And this leads to the common schisms: one side sees the fatal flaw, the other side the superpower. 5. There is both a causal relationship between the superpower and the fatal flaw and a historical relationship (that's where it was easy, so that's where it was done first) 6. However, the coupling may not actually be a necessary one. Which paper?