Do you know the Story of Mac about the invention of Lisp macros?
The story you are referring to is known as "The Story of Mel," not "The Story of Mac." It is a popular anecdote in computer programming folklore about a programmer named Mel Kaye. However, the story is not related to the invention of Lisp macros. Instead, it tells the tale of a real programmer, Mel Kaye, who worked at the Royal McBee Computer Corporation in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Mel was known for his exceptional skills in programming early computers, such as the LGP-30 and RPC-4000, using assembly language and writing highly optimized code.
Lisp macros, on the other hand, were introduced as part of the Lisp programming language, which was developed by John McCarthy. Macros are a powerful feature of Lisp that allows code to generate and manipulate other code at runtime, enabling metaprogramming and the creation of domain-specific languages.
While "The Story of Mel" is an entertaining and often-cited piece of programming folklore, it does not discuss the invention of Lisp macros or their development.
I'm talking about "The Story of Mac: A Just-So Story" from Practical Common Lisp.
I apologize for the confusion in my previous response. "The Story of Mac: A Just-So Story" is indeed a story from the book "Practical Common Lisp" by Peter Seibel. The story serves as an allegorical explanation of how Lisp macros were invented and why they are useful.
In the story, there is a tribe of programmers who speak Lisp, and among them is a wise programmer named Mac. The tribe faces a problem where they need to repeatedly perform similar but slightly different tasks. Instead of writing separate functions for each task, Mac realizes that he can write a single function that generates the required code for each task. He calls this new function a "macro."
The other tribe members initially resist the idea of macros, but eventually, they come to appreciate the power of macros in Lisp, allowing them to write more concise, expressive, and maintainable code.
While this story is a fictional and playful explanation, it effectively conveys the concept of Lisp macros and their importance in the language. Macros allow Lisp code to manipulate other Lisp code, providing a powerful metaprogramming capability that sets Lisp apart from many other programming languages.