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digitalmars.D - What does "macro" mean anyway?

reply "Janice Caron" <caron800 googlemail.com> writes:
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What does "macro" mean anyway?

I took the trouble to look it up in a dictionary. It means

1 : being large, thick, or exceptionally prominent
2a : of, involving, or intended for use with relatively large quantities or
on a large scale
2b : of or relating to macroeconomics
3 : GROSS
4 : of or relating to a macro lens or to close-up photography

Therefore, please may I suggest that we use the word "define" to define
things - not "macro"
Sep 12 2007
next sibling parent Regan Heath <regan netmail.co.nz> writes:
Janice Caron wrote:

 What does "macro" mean anyway?
 
 I took the trouble to look it up in a dictionary. It means
 
 1 : being large, thick, or exceptionally prominent
 2a : of, involving, or intended for use with relatively large quantities 
 or on a large scale
 2b : of or relating to macroeconomics
 3 : GROSS
 4 : of or relating to a macro lens or to close-up photography
 
 Therefore, please may I suggest that we use the word "define" to define 
 things - not "macro"



IMO the dictionary isn't the best place to look for a definition (sounds 
crazy I know) in this case because the term has a well known and 
specific meaning in computer science.

A better location would be wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macro_%28computer_science

Note, I'm not making an argument for or against the use of macro at this 
stage.

Regan
Sep 12 2007
prev sibling next sibling parent Giuseppe Bilotta <giuseppe.bilotta gmail.com> writes:
On Wednesday 12 September 2007 09:26, Janice Caron wrote:


 What does "macro" mean anyway?
 
 I took the trouble to look it up in a dictionary. It means
 
 1 : being large, thick, or exceptionally prominent
 2a : of, involving, or intended for use with relatively large quantities or
 on a large scale
 2b : of or relating to macroeconomics
 3 : GROSS
 4 : of or relating to a macro lens or to close-up photography
 
 Therefore, please may I suggest that we use the word "define" to define
 things - not "macro"



AFAIK the etymology of 'macro' in the computer world comes from (1) and (2a),
since it referred to the capabilities offered by some (assembler) compilers
to collect long streaks of microcode instructions into a single
'macroinstruction' without having to result to actual subroutines/interrupts/
etc


-- 
Giuseppe "Oblomov" Bilotta
Sep 12 2007
prev sibling parent Manfred Nowak <svv1999 hotmail.com> writes:
Janice Caron wrote


 What does "macro" mean anyway?



Please look here for Walters intents:

http://www.digitalmars.com/d/archives/digitalmars/D/announce/DMD_1.011
_release_8162.html#N8185

-manfred
Sep 12 2007