Re: C preprocessor vs Macro processor

Peter Govoni <peter.govoni@analog.com> writes:
: Could someone please explain why a macro processor (e.g. M4)
: is 1) more powerful than the C preprocessor . . .


Greg Badros (gjb@cs.washington.edu) replies:
: Also, M4 has many many more builtin functions (including regular
: expression matching, and much more) and permits recursive macros;


My two cents:
  And M4 allows stacks which make it possible to construct and parse
  non-trivial macro implemented "grammars". An example application for
  such a grammar would be adding structured control mechanisms to a
  non-structured language such as a plain-jane assembler. M4 used in
  such a way was a vital part of the implementation for RATFOR, an early
  example of structured Fortran.
[I never saw a version of Ratfor in anything other than C or Fortran.
-John]




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