From: utzoo!henry
Newsgroups: gripes
Title: macro madness... 
Article-I.D.: utzoo.2269
Posted: Mon Jul 12 14:06:16 1982
Received: Mon Jul 12 14:06:16 1982

The tests we've run have generally showed the line numbers from the
error messages to be accurate;  Andy, I'd be interested in seeing the
file that produced the problem.

Contrary to Andy's claim, the problems of the macro package are not
being ignored.  Lack of results should not be confused with lack of
attention;  the two arise from very different causes.  The cause of
the lack of results on fixing the macro package's numerous troubles
is that the problem is HARD.  On a scale of difficulty from 1 to 10,
fixing the subtle interactions that cause macros to foul each other
up rates at least a 12.  We are seriously considering re-implementing
the macro package from scratch, because this may well be the SIMPLEST
way of attacking the problem.  It really is that bad.

We do make some progress from time to time.  The lack of complaint about
misuse of the macros was quite definitely a problem, since such misuse
can produce extremely cryptic behavior.  Nowadays it produces error
messages, so one at least has some idea what's happening.  That problem
happened to be easy to take care of;  other problems aren't.

Some jobs are harder than others;  if several are started at once, the
simpler and easier ones naturally show results earlier.  And the crises
of the moment generally have to be given priority over work that is not
going to show results quickly.  These facts of life may not be terribly
pleasant to the folks who want to see the complex, lengthy, and difficult
jobs completed, but there's not much that can be done about it.  Specific
suggestions on how to improve things are always welcome.