If a function might have to be evaluated at compile time, declare it `constexpr`

Reason

constexpr is needed to tell the compiler to allow compile-time evaluation.

Example

The (in)famous factorial:

constexpr int fac(int n)
{
    constexpr int max_exp = 17;      // constexpr enables max_exp to be used in Expects
    Expects(0 <= n && n < max_exp);  // prevent silliness and overflow
    int x = 1;
    for (int i = 2; i <= n; ++i) x *= i;
    return x;
}

This is C++14. For C++11, use a recursive formulation of fac().

Note

constexpr does not guarantee compile-time evaluation; it just guarantees that the function can be evaluated at compile time for constant expression arguments if the programmer requires it or the compiler decides to do so to optimize.

constexpr int min(int x, int y) { return x < y ? x : y; }

void test(int v)
{
    int m1 = min(-1, 2);            // probably compile-time evaluation
    constexpr int m2 = min(-1, 2);  // compile-time evaluation
    int m3 = min(-1, v);            // run-time evaluation
    constexpr int m4 = min(-1, v);  // error: cannot evaluate at compile time
}

Note

Don't try to make all functions constexpr. Most computation is best done at run time.

Note

Any API that might eventually depend on high-level run-time configuration or business logic should not be made constexpr. Such customization can not be evaluated by the compiler, and any constexpr functions that depended upon that API would have to be refactored or drop constexpr.

Enforcement

Impossible and unnecessary. The compiler gives an error if a non-constexpr function is called where a constant is required.