[richk449]

I can think of two definitions:

1) a higher level of abstraction. For example, creating a class is programming. Creating a class factory (a class that creates classes) is meta programming.

2) self referential. The movie Adaption is meta, because it is about itself.

[vnorilo]

I would not call 1 metaprogramming. Meta means something like "outside of". Metaprogramming usually means higher order programming (programs that produce programs, such as source generation, lisp macros or templates).

[richk449]

Okay. It’s outside my area of expertise, so maybe I didn’t pick the best example. The internet seems to imply that there is a lot of debate as to what is meta programming.

[NoodleIncident]

This article is about the metagame, which is derived from this meaning. It just gets confusingly shortened back to meta in some contexts