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A subtle advantage of having a macro system is that you only pay the price of having unconventional syntax if you opt into it. You can keep the core language small and push weird syntax into macros, which can be imported like libraries.

The core language of Clojure is pretty small and simple compared with most other languages.

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While that is true of the basic building blocks of the language, clojure.spec for example does have an overly verbose syntax (I would define it that way, even though it doesn't introduce new basic syntax elements) for function specs and that was one of the main motivations for writing Ghostwheel.

I wouldn't see this as some sort of development in Clojure though and I don't really know if that's what cutler meant anyway. Maybe he'll elaborate.

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