https://www.quotes.net/quote/36312 https://www.quotes.net/quote/36312 "The primary purpose of the DATA statement is to give names to constants; instead of refe

https://www.quotes.net/quote/36312 https://www.quotes.net/quote/36312 "The primary purpose of the DATA statement is to give names to constants; instead of referring to pi as 3.141592653589793 at every appearance, the variable PI can be given that value with a DATA statement and used instead of the longer form of the constant. This also simplifies modifying the program, should the value of PI change." Or, quoting the other aphorism, what is constant for someone is a variable for someone else. What is run time for LISP (which lacked good compiler at early stages - the famous two horse asses width constraint) can freely be a compile time for other language. Or for a LISP, for that matter, in our time. The compile time expansion allows for better (because faster) error checking.