I think of this more like the lisp construction #. which expands at
read-time.
that is, #.(expt 2 31) is handy.
Since the semantics of evaluation in computer algebra systems tends to
be obscure (as it tries to model the obscurity of semantics in
mathematical discourse),
it's hard to explain to someone who has a clear idea of notions like
quoting and evaluation from Lisp.
e.g. in Maxima, if x has no value, then x is magically quoted, not "x
unbound variable, error"
If you have a function that does not evaluate its arguments, like defun
and you want to insert into the body, something..
what to do?
This happens in computer algebra because it is a common situation where
you compute some complicated expression
and then wish to use it as the body of a function. In Lisp you would
see something like this..
(setf y '(+ x 1)) ;; but really, something much messier
(defun g(x) #.y)
(g 34) --> 35
In my experience, using '' for any other purpose is highly suspect.
RJF