understanding backquote

[Olaf Rogalsky <olaf.rogalsky@aol.de>]

Hi,

I have problems in understanding the semantics of backquote. Consider
the following function:

(defun test () `,(* (+ 1 2) (+ 3 4)))

Now let's have a look at the defintion of the symbol:

(symbol-function 'test)
=> (lambda nil (* (+ 1 2) (+ 3 4))) 

Huhh??? I was thinking, that the above definition is equivalent to the
following:

(defun test () 21)

Ok, this was unexpected, but perhaps the compiler does it "right":
(disassemble (byte-compile 'test))
=>  byte code:
      args: nil
    0       constant  21
    1       return    

Yes, it does. It is only, that I suspect, that this has nothing to do
with backquotes, but rather with constant folding optimization.

Can anybody explain this to me?

Thanks,
Olaf