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Tara2 Posted 4 years ago
Grammar

Start the machine off

Why is it 'start off' not 'start'?


other way which gives that as a primitive but we're not going to do that why? because we don't need a primitive for that you can get the effect of testing if there's an empty stack even if you don't have that as a primitive for the machine because uh what you could do is you can start the machine off at the very first thing it does is it writes a special symbol to mark the bottom you know what's going to eventually be the bottom of the stack there's going to be some special symbol maybe a dollar sign symbol that's the very first thing that the machine does and then it proceeds as before if ever sees that dollar sign symbol again it knows the stack is effectively empty okay so you can get the effect of testing for the stack being empty even if you don't have a primitive for that and we're not going to actually fuss about some details like that um so you

  

Top answer

Tara2 Why is it 'start off' not 'start'? You are seeing non-native and/or confused writing. There is a mistake of one kind or another every two words.

— Anonymous

  • Tara2 Why is it 'start off' not 'start'?
  • You are seeing non-native and/or confused writing.
  • There is a mistake of one kind or another every two words.
  • Ignore it.
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2 Answers
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Tara2Why is it 'start off' not 'start'?

You are seeing non-native and/or confused writing. There is a mistake of one kind or another every two words. Ignore it.

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Tara2Why is it 'start off' not 'start'?

It could have been "start".

"start off" is a more informal, conversational way of saying "start". It gives the sense of getting (the machine) going "on its way", "down its path", as if it were a person leaving you. It also gives the impression of starting at the very beginning, as when you might hear at a rest

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