Peter

I think you totally misunderstood my post (or I have inadequately explained my point):

1) I am saying that whether macro substitution is slower or faster than alternative methods is often (not always) a mute point because the speed differences are not always noticeable in (a) the specific implementation i.e. small loops or single statements and (b) with the very fast processors and memory configs of modern PC's.

2) I am not advising for or against macro substitution per se. I am using it myself in a variety of places. I clearly indicated this much and agree that it is "legitimate" programming technique.

3) I still maintain there is no carte blanche right or wrong answer as to whether macros should be used or not. Sometimes they should and sometimes they should not. The answer will depend on the situation (and personal programming preference) and hence no right answer.

4) Often the speed issue is a mute point because what may be faster on a perfect test-bed PC may not be perfect in the real world where users have less than perfect equipment with lots of other apps and processes running. In other words the bottlenecks in a deployed app may be in completely other areas.

Jos