Templates are a macro system. Macro systems are often Turing-complete. But if being Turing-complete was the only important thing in programming, then we'd all c

Templates are a macro system. Macro systems are often Turing-complete. But if being Turing-complete was the only important thing in programming, then we'd all code in assembly and never look forward. Most programming languages are Turing-complete, but this doesn't mean they are practically equivalent for every job. You know, Brainfuck is also Turing-complete, but you'd be probably pissed-off if I said heavy-templated C++ code readability is often close to that of Brainfuck. Macro systems can be very powerful, but they are also quite hard to use. It is 2016 and error messages in C++ templates are still inferior to the messages you get in C#, Java or Scala generics, despite templates existing for much longer. C++ templates are also not the very best at metaprogramming either. Take any macro system like the ones found in LISPs, Scala or Template Haskell - they are much more powerful and consistent with the rest of the language. I can code Scala metaprograms in Scala or LISP metaprograms in LISP. But I can't code C++ metaprograms in C++, I have to use this weird duck-typed functional template language which doesn't have even loops or conditionals.