Editing Microsoft Excel (section)

==== History ====
From its first version Excel supported end-user programming of macros (automation of repetitive tasks) and user-defined functions (extension of Excel's built-in function library). In early versions of Excel, these programs were written in a macro language whose statements had formula syntax and resided in the cells of special-purpose macro sheets (stored with file extension .XLM in Windows.) XLM was the default macro language for Excel through Excel 4.0.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Spreadsheet Page for Excel Users and Developers|url=http://spreadsheetpage.com/index.php/site/tip/developer_faq_general_questions/|access-date=December 19, 2012|website=spreadsheetpage.com|publisher=J-Walk & Associates, Inc.|archive-date=January 21, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121061001/http://spreadsheetpage.com/index.php/site/tip/developer_faq_general_questions/|url-status=live}}</ref> Beginning with version 5.0 Excel recorded macros in VBA by default but with version 5.0 XLM recording was still allowed as an option. After version 5.0 that option was discontinued. All versions of Excel, including Excel 2021, are capable of running an XLM macro, though Microsoft discourages their use.<ref>{{cite web|title=Working with Excel 4.0 macros|url=http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/working-with-excel-4-0-macros-HA010336614.aspx|access-date=December 19, 2012|website=microsoft.com|publisher=Microsoft Office Support|archive-date=March 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307194541/http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/working-with-excel-4-0-macros-HA010336614.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>