[nocipher]

I agree with this answer, but I suspect that this is also why Lisp isn't often a first choice. Meta-programming doesn't figure into language choice discussions as often as it probably should.

I distinctly recall wishing for macros in Java a few months ago while working on an Android project -- so much boiler plate for doing so little. I came to the realization that Java uses XML augmented libraries so much simply because Java boilerplate is such a pain to write. It's often easier to build a mini-language on top of XML and use Java to parse and compile it than it is to write the equivalent Java code. I think that alone says something about the efficacy of Java and the benefit of using a language with a more malleable AST.