Programming Scala, 2nd Edition

Chapter 24. Metaprogramming: Macros and Reflection

Metaprogramming is programming that manipulates programs as data. In some languages, the difference between programming and metaprogramming isn’t all that significant. Lisp dialects, for example, use the same S-expression representation for code and data, a property called homoiconicity. So, manipulating code is straightforward and not uncommon. In statically typed languages like Java and Scala, metaprogramming is less common, but it’s still useful for solving many design problems.

The word reflection is also sometimes used to mean metaprogramming in general. That is the sense of the term for the Scala reflection library. However, sometimes the term has the narrower meaning of runtime “introspection” of code with limited or no modifications.

In languages like Scala where code is compiled and then run, versus being interpreted “on the fly” like many dynamically typed languages, there is a distinction between compile-time and runtime metaprogramming. In compile-time metaprogramming, any invocations occur just before or during compilation. The classic C-language preprocessor is an example of processing that transforms the source code before it’s compiled.

Scala’s metaprogramming support happens at compile time using a macro facility. Macros work more like constrained compiler plug-ins, because they manipulate the abstract syntax tree (AST) produced from the parsed source code. Macros are invoked to manipulate the AST before the final ...