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MUSCOVITE Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary

is the definite article necessary here?

Hi,

(1) You will be prompted to enter this information only once, at first program start.
(2) You will be prompted to enter this information only once, at THE first program start.

Which of these sentences is correct?

Thanks!

mus-te
  

Top answer

I think that you can say both. " "at compile-time", "at run-time" , at "design-time" etc are normally used without an article regardless of the context in which they are used. Following this analogy, it's not difficult to conceive that "at first program start (or at first program run)" may be used without the article (especially by expert users).

— Ivanhr

  • I think that you can say both.
  • " "at compile-time", "at run-time" , at "design-time" etc are normally used without an article regardless of the context in which they are used.
  • Following this analogy, it's not difficult to conceive that "at first program start (or at first program run)" may be used without the article (especially by expert users).
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2 Answers
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I think that you can say both. It could be perhaps argued that "the" makes more sense because of the "first" but in computer programming you'll often come across sentences such as "References to this method were resolved at compile-time."

"at compile-time", "at run-time" , at "design-time" etc are normally used without an article regardless of the context in which they are used. Following
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Hi Ivanhr,

Thanks a lot for the VERY interesting comments! Emotion: yes
This information in really invaluable to English learners
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