Which usage of the prefix, "Meta" is correct, "Metaprogramming" or "Meta-programming"? Should the word be hyphenated or not?
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I’m sorry, but this really has no “correct” answer. If you are writing for a publication that has a style guide with some metarule about meta-prefixes, do what they say. Otherwise, it’s up to you. – tchrist Feb 06 '14 at 17:58
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But see this Google N-gram. Strong pref. – tchrist Feb 06 '14 at 17:59
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This one may also be of interest to you: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12494/when-is-it-appropriate-to-use-a-hyphen – Kit Z. Fox Feb 06 '14 at 18:05
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Hyphens are used to avoid syntactic ambiguity; when not using the hyphen makes the sentence mean something else, you use the hypen. In this case, "Metaprogramming" doesn't need the hyphen as there is no ambiguity. Nonetheless, both would be acceptable.
Zzyrk
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