I have somewhat experience with what people call excel "macros". The vba code that controls the activeX components, right?
But I still do not know the true meaning of the term macro :). What kind of code is called macro? Is it something like vba or js implemented into a program? Like vba to excel or vba to autocad or js to flex?
Wikipedia has the answer, under Macro.
Definition:
The term originated with macro-assemblers, where the idea is to make available to the programmer a sequence of computing instructions as a single program statement, making the programming task less tedious and less error-prone.
Usage:
Keyboard and mouse macros that are created using an application's built-in macro features are sometimes called application macros. They are created by carrying out the sequence once and letting the application record the actions. An underlying macro programming language, most commonly a Scripting language, with direct access to the features of the application may also exist.
There's lots more, if you follow the link.