Gödel, Escher, Elisp: The Beauty of Macros

32 points - 08/04/2026

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meken today at 3:52 PM
> To anticipate a common question: why couldn't my-unless be a function? Function arguments are evaluated eagerly, before the function ever sees them.

Interesting, so if you’re using a lazy language then you don’t need a macro here and could write my-unless as a function.

kimi today at 3:50 PM
Remember the golden rule of Lisp macros: don't write a macro.
thisisauserid today at 4:39 PM
I always thought it odd that Penrose gets dropped from the Escher conversations.
KeenanKeenan today at 3:45 PM
If macros can implement arbitrary language features then how come elisp has never built a type system?
deleted today at 4:11 PM