ALEC--A user extensible scientific programming language
R. B. E. Napper · The Computer Journal · 1976
This paper describes the user-extensible high-level scientific programming language, ALEC, the initial proposals for which were first given in 1967. The more interesting properties of the language, in particular the extension mechanism, are illustrated in some detail. Extensibility is achieved by using ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ macros. A macro definition causes an extension to the compiler itself and thus macro calls are implemented in the same way as the base language instructions. This alleviates the need to preprocess the source text, gives considerable flexibility and power to the language and enables efficient object code to be produced.