A Possible Vision for Macros in Swift

[MPLewis (Mike Lewis)]

I'm not trying to call anyone out, but I have to say that responses like the below in a recent thread about a possible new language feature by a member of the language workgroup concern me:

@xwu

Keep in mind that with macros on the horizon, a feature that forwards to another type’s implementation at runtime would (or at least, could) be a subtly different creature from a synthesized conformance, and one salient question would be under what circumstances that behavior would be desirable and independently valuable when macros are available.

I'm not voicing any opinion on that particular feature, but dismissing or implying a higher bar for new language features once macros are available is something that should be avoided, at least to me. I think we can all agree that the discoverability and usability of custom macros is inherently worse than language-level features, and even if something could be implemented entirely with macros, I would hate for the mere existence of macros to deter the discussion and development of new language features.