Macro (computer science)

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/macro-computer-science

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the historical context?Originated with macro assemblers in the mid-20th century to simplify low-level programming
2. What is the language extension?Facilitates the creation of domain-specific languages (DSLs) and custom syntactic constructs
3. What is a macro in computer science?A macro is a tiny word that tells the computer to write a big block of code for you. It lets programmers hide complicated instructions behind a simple name.
4. How does a macro help programmers?Macros let programmers write a short command that expands into many lines of code before the program runs. This saves time and reduces mistakes.

Metaprogramming: Writing programs that write or manipulate other programs as their data.
Domain-Specific Language (DSL): A programming language specialized for a particular application domain.