>>>1) Often you only get an error message at runtime. It helps to develop better programs if errors appear already when you compile a program.
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>>Can you provide an example?
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>Access any un-initialized variable, e.g.:
>
>

>x = y
>

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>If you didn't declare "y" previously, a compiler would protest at compile-time.

That's not interpreted. Under a language that allows strict typing, the compiler would complain. VB allows both.

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>>Even "real" compilers have to look up the variable.
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>I understand that a compiler would convert a variable reference, like "x" or "y", to the address (number) in RAM. No lookup is done at runtime.

Yes, it is. It still has to lookup the address.