Separate programs for creating these macros are called macro recorders.ĭuring the 1980s, macro programs – originally SmartKey, then SuperKey, KeyWorks, Prokey – were very popular, first as a means to automatically format screenplays, then for a variety of user input tasks. In this way, frequently used or repetitive sequences of keystrokes and mouse movements can be automated. Keyboard macros and mouse macros allow short sequences of keystrokes and mouse actions to transform into other, usually more time-consuming, sequences of keystrokes and mouse actions. 6 Macros for machine-independent software.The term derives from 'macro instruction', and such expansions were originally used in generating assembly language code. (Thus, they are called 'macros' because a 'big' block of code can be expanded from a 'small' sequence of characters.) Macros often allow positional or keyword parameters that dictate what the conditional assembler program generates and have been used to create entire programs or program suites according to such variables as operating system, platform or other factors. Macros are used to make a sequence of computing instructions available to the programmer as a single program statement, making the programming task less tedious and less error-prone. Token and tree macros are supported in some programming languages to enable code reuse or to extend the language, sometimes for domain-specific languages.

Character macros are supported in software applications to make it easy to invoke common command sequences. The input and output may be a sequence of lexical tokens or characters, or a syntax tree. Applying a macro to an input is known as macro expansion. In computer programming, a macro (short for ' macro instruction' from Greek μακρο- 'long, large' ) is a rule or pattern that specifies how a certain input should be mapped to a replacement output. For ISO macrolanguages, see ISO 639 macrolanguage.

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