Java Glossary : macro

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macro

A program to write programs. The C++ language has a macro preprocessor, often used to customise the program to a particular platform or compiler.

The early C++ compilers generate C code. You might think of them as a fancy sort of macro program.

M4 is a macro languge for generating HTML.

If you study the pages on this website, you will see much of the html was generated with macros. For example  expands to about 40 lines of mostly boilerplate at the bottom of each page. The macro themselves are written in Java. I have not so far released this code to the public.

Much of the code in my programs I create with little custom programs that I call stompers, programs that take simple input and generate reams of Java bubblegum housekeeping code, e.g. to set up Listeners. This is a one shot deal. I then maintain the generated code as if I had written it by hand. With true macro processors, you never modify the output. You change the input and re-run the macro generation.

If the inputs have not changed, the outputs will be the same. In order to avoid false deltas, I use untouch, to redate the files back to their original dates.

M4 ¤ untouch ¤ amanuensis ¤

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