The compiled macro assembler

Abstract

This paper describes an advance in the art of writing assemblers. It embodies an idea which has been suggested at least twice, but never actually implemented. In a compiled macro assembler, ordinary source language statements are processed in the usual way, but macros are processed in a novel way. The advantage of the compiled macro assembler is the speed with which it processes macros. An actual compiled macro assembler has been written by the author and his students, and the speed with which it processes macros, as distinguished from ordinary statements, has been rigorously tested.