Comment by gruseom

Well, the easy way to use Lisp macros in a compiler is to start with an s-expr and successively transform it until you've got something that the target platform accepts. "Starting with an s-expr" implies that your source code is in Lisp format. So in that sense, what you're compiling is a Lisp derivative. Is that what you mean?

No doubt there are clever ways to leverage Lisp macros in compilers beyond this approach. But most people who like Lisp macros wouldn't bother. They'd just do it the easy way.

Edit: my understanding of what DaniFong is getting at is that in Lisp programming, there is no longer a barrier between application development and compiler development. This makes possible a lot of powerful things that you can't do when the application is written in a fixed language by different programmers than the ones who write the compiler. It's a different point, but one I find very interesting. It's not obvious what belongs to application development and what belongs to language development once this technical (and organizational) barrier is removed.