In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Mike Meyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Aahz) writes: >> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, >> James <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> >>>I keep asking myself why isn't this more popular especially when many >>>prominent Python devs seem to be well aware of Lisp where macros are >>>done right. >> >> You have confused "many Python devs" with Guido. ;-) Guido hates >> macros. > >I vaguelly recall hearing that Guido thought about adding macros to >Python, and rejected the idea because he didn't want users to have to >deal with compile-time errors at run time. Or something to that >effect. > >That doesn't sounds like "hates" to me. More like "doesn't like the >baggage."
The smiley applies to that whole bit. Guido's main problem with macros is that there's no clean way to integrate them into a language with strong syntactical structure. He also doesn't like the idea of splitting Python itself into mini-languages (by adding new keywords). He does have a strong distaste for functional programming and sees macros as partly an attempt to expand inappropriate usage of functional programming in Python. Plus your point, that probably covers most of it. -- Aahz ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) <*> http://www.pythoncraft.com/ "Given that C++ has pointers and typecasts, it's really hard to have a serious conversation about type safety with a C++ programmer and keep a straight face. It's kind of like having a guy who juggles chainsaws wearing body armor arguing with a guy who juggles rubber chickens wearing a T-shirt about who's in more danger." --Roy Smith -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
