&gt; As the article states, this is a social&#x2F;community issue, if every application has it&#x27;s own language and syntax that is a huge barrier for others coming to work on it.<p>Every application already has its own vocabulary, which is a huge barrier for others coming to work on it (seriously: try to check out the Linux kernel, or Firefox, or the Python interpreter, and try to start hacking on them).<p>Macros and custom syntax can help make that vocabulary more understandable, in the same way that functions can help make control flow more understandable.