Compile time function execution...

[Walter Bright]

Derek Parnell wrote:
> I guess its time I came clean and admitted that in spite of this being a
> huge technological advancement in the language, I can't see why I'd ever be
> needing it.
> 
> I mean, when it comes down to it, it's just a fancy way of getting the
> compiler to calculate/generate literals that can be done by myself anyway,
> no? These literals are values that can be determined prior to writing one's
> code, right?
> 
> This is not a troll posting, so can anyone enlighten me on how this ability
> will reduce the cost of maintaining code? I am very open to being educated.

It's a very good question, and I tried to answer it in the follow-on 
"Motivation for..." thread!