R is closely modelled on S. S was always designed to interoperate well with UNIX tools. Unix has always had cpp (for c-like languages) and m4 (general-purpose) as outboard macro processors. Then too, the classic S Blue Book explained how to do "computing on the language'", see section 5 of R Language Definition, so the AST-based macro processor for R is called (drum roll please) R.
On Fri, 23 May 2025 at 14:14, Sorkin, John <jsor...@som.umaryland.edu> wrote: > > Colleagues, > > At the risk of being flamed, starting a war, being labeled a heretic . . . > etc., I would like to ask the grey-hairs among the R listserve members a > simple question. Why did the R core team not develop a macro language for R. > I understand that R was designed to be a function-based language, but this > does not rule out having macros as a facility that helps in code development. > > Thank you, > John > > > John David Sorkin M.D., Ph.D. > Professor of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine; > Associate Director for Biostatistics and Informatics, Baltimore VA Medical > Center Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center; > PI Biostatistics and Informatics Core, University of Maryland School of > Medicine Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center; > Senior Statistician University of Maryland Center for Vascular Research; > > Division of Gerontology and Paliative Care, > 10 North Greene Street > GRECC (BT/18/GR) > Baltimore, MD 21201-1524 > Cell phone 443-418-5382 > > > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
