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Macro - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Macro : adj : very large in scale or scope or capability; "`macro' in the
word `macroscopic' is a combining form"
(noun)
1: a single computer instruction that results in a series of
instructions in machine language [syn: macro instruction]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Macro- \Mac"ro-\ [Gr. makro`s, adj.]
A combining form signifying long, large, great; as
macrodiagonal, macrospore.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Macro :
1. Assembly language for VAX/VMS.
2. PL/I-like language with extensions for string processing.
"MACRO: A Programming Language", S.R. Greenwood, SIGPLAN
Notices 14(9):80-91 (Sep 1979).
[{Jargon File]
Based on the Online Dictionary of Computing [Computer_Dictionary]:
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Macro :
A name (possibly followed by a formal argument list) that is
equated to a text or symbolic expression to which it is to be
expanded (possibly with the substitution of actual
arguments) by a macro expander.
The term "macro" originated in early assemblers, which
encouraged the use of macros as a structuring and
information-hiding device. During the early 1970s, macro
assemblers became ubiquitous, and sometimes quite as powerful
and expensive as HLLs, only to fall from favour as improving
compiler technology marginalised assembly language
programming (see languages of choice). Nowadays the term is
most often used in connection with the C preprocessor,
Lisp, or one of several special-purpose languages built
around a macro-expansion facility (such as TeX or Unix's
troff suite).
Indeed, the meaning has drifted enough that the collective
"macros" is now sometimes used for code in any special-purpose
application control language (whether or not the language is
actually translated by text expansion), and for macro-like
entities such as the "keyboard macros" supported in some text
editors (and PC TSRs or Macintosh INIT/CDEV keyboard
enhancers).
(1994-12-06)
Based on the Online Dictionary of Computing [Computer_Dictionary]:
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macro- pref. Large. Opposite of micro-. In the mainstream and among
other technical cultures (for example, medical people) this competes
with the prefix mega-, but hackers tend to restrict the latter to
quantification.
Based on Jargon File : [Hackers_Dictionary]:
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Macro : /mak'roh/ n. [techspeak] A name (possibly followed by a formal
arg list) that is equated to a text or symbolic expression to which it
is to be expanded (possibly with the substitution of actual arguments)
by a macro expander. This definition can be found in any technical
dictionary; what those won't tell you is how the hackish connotations of
the term have changed over time.
The term `macro' originated in early assemblers, which encouraged the
use of macros as a structuring and information-hiding device. During the
early 1970s, macro assemblers became ubiquitous, and sometimes quite as
powerful and expensive as HLLs, only to fall from favor as improving
compiler technology marginalized assembler programming (see languages
of choice). Nowadays the term is most often used in connection with the
C preprocessor, LISP, or one of several special-purpose languages built
around a macro-expansion facility (such as TeX or Unix's [nt]roff
suite).
Indeed, the meaning has drifted enough that the collective `macros' is
now sometimes used for code in any special-purpose application control
language (whether or not the language is actually translated by text
expansion), and for macro-like entities such as the `keyboard macros'
supported in some text editors (and PC TSR or Macintosh INIT/CDEV
keyboard enhancers).
Based on Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [Hackers_Dictionary]:
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