Compile time

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Compile time refers to the period when a Pascal program is being compiled, and is usually used to refer to information known by the compiler which it can use in compiling the program. Examples of such information available at compile time include compiler switches, values of identifiers defined as const, quoted strings, and the actual text of the program.

Information which is not available until the program is being executed is referred to as being known at runtime.

Information available at compile time is usually more efficient for the program as initialization of constants and value-defined variables can be done once, when the program is compiled, as opposed to doing so at runtime each time the program is started.