I completely forgot about this aspect of C++. I remember being surprised the first time I tried compiling a C++ library on my workstation and found I couldn't do so because my workstation ran out of memory. The library was Panda3D; I can't remember what kind of workstation I was running on at the time.

It turns out if you use enough layers of templates, the compiler has to carry around an awful lot of state to figure out what program it should actually output.

This is another downside to a 1400 page language specification; whether the user can hold most of it in their head or use a reliable, safe subset to avoid sharp edges, the compiler and tools still have to be aware of all of the layers of complexity in both the code a developer is writing and often whatever tricks and quirks developers chose to usein the libraries the developers code is depending on.