[R] Why is there no macro facility for R?

[Bert Gunter]

John:
1. You might get a better response if you could give at least a couple of
use case examples of what you mean.

2. I have a hazy memory of this being actually discussed on this list ca ~
20 years ago. As I recall, some sort of macro facility may have been
implemented in a package using R's compute-on-the-language features. But I
may err -- and whatever was done (if anything) may be irrelevant to your
query.

Cheers,
Bert

"An educated person is one who can entertain new ideas, entertain others,
and entertain herself."



On Thu, May 22, 2025 at 7:14 PM Sorkin, John <jsorkin using som.umaryland.edu>
wrote:

> Colleagues,
>
> At the risk of being flamed, starting a war, being labeled a heretic . . .
> etc., I would like to ask the grey-hairs among the R listserve members a
> simple question. Why did the R core team not develop a macro language for
> R. I understand that R was designed to be a function-based language, but
> this does not rule out having macros as a facility that helps in code
> development.
>
> Thank you,
> John
>
>
> John David Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
> Professor of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine;
> Associate Director for Biostatistics and Informatics, Baltimore VA Medical
> Center Geriatrics Research, Education, and Clinical Center;
> PI Biostatistics and Informatics Core, University of Maryland School of
> Medicine Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center;
> Senior Statistician University of Maryland Center for Vascular Research;
>
> Division of Gerontology and Paliative Care,
> 10 North Greene Street
> GRECC (BT/18/GR)
> Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
> Cell phone 443-418-5382
>
>
>
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