> why does fennel description insist on macros as compile time feature?
This just means that it's possible to ship the compiled code on its own and have no dependencies on Fennel at runtime. It doesn't mean you can't ship the compiler if you want to; the choice is up to you. In fact, I strongly recommend in most cases shipping the compiler so you can write and refine your code interactively as the program runs. It's helpful to think of "compile time" as a subset of runtime; it's just that portion of runtime when the function that's running happens to be the compiler!
Fennel is very well-suited for live-coding; I used this heavily when writing my entry to the Lisp Game Jam this spring. I blogged a bit about how live-reloads interact with the Lua module system here: https://technomancy.us/189
This just means that it's possible to ship the compiled code on its own and have no dependencies on Fennel at runtime. It doesn't mean you can't ship the compiler if you want to; the choice is up to you. In fact, I strongly recommend in most cases shipping the compiler so you can write and refine your code interactively as the program runs. It's helpful to think of "compile time" as a subset of runtime; it's just that portion of runtime when the function that's running happens to be the compiler!
Fennel is very well-suited for live-coding; I used this heavily when writing my entry to the Lisp Game Jam this spring. I blogged a bit about how live-reloads interact with the Lua module system here: https://technomancy.us/189