Definition: macro

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

macro
     adj : (combining form) very large in scale or scope or capability;
           "`macro' in the word `macroscopic' is a combining form"
     n : a single computer instruction that results in a series of
         instructions in machine language [syn: macro instruction]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Macro- \Mac"ro-\ [Gr. makro`s, adj.]
   A combining form signifying long, large, great; as
   macrodiagonal, macrospore.

Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10)

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]

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)

macro-

   Prefix 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.

   [Jargon File]

Source: Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

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.

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).