<i>The biggest problem with these things is [...] when you're going to debug.</i><p>Since Parenscript is one of "these things", I have to disagree. We've been careful to make PS generate readable, debuggable JS code. It's not what you'd write by hand, of course, but it is not a problem to debug. I debug it every day using standard JS tools. (The biggest problem with PS is the impedance mismatch between Javascript's semantics and Lisp's, but that's another story.)<p>As I'm sure you're aware, sophisticated C++ template code can be nightmarish to debug. Easier debugging is actually one of the <i>goals</i> of the OP, so if what you said were true then his whole project would be a why-bother.