Libraries: Difference between revisions
Grossly oversimplified description of types of libraries. Someone please correct.
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[[Category:Encyclopedia]]'''Libraries''' are software which extend the functionality of a programming language, usually by providing an [[API]] to complete a specific task. Different languages may have their own name for libraries, such as [[Perl]] modules, or [[Java]] packages. They also may also be implemented in different ways.
=Dynamically-linked Libraries=
Dynamically-linked libraries are libraries that are contained in a file separate from an application's primary executable, and are loaded at [[run-time]]. This has the benefit of allowing multiple programs use of the same code both on disk and in memory, saving space. It also allows a program to load additional, optional or interchangeable portions of itself into memory at runtime.
On Windows, these files are known as, naturally enough, as '''Dynamically-Linked Libraries''', from which their file extension '''DLL''' is derived.
On UNIX-derived systems, these files are known as '''Shared Objects'', from which their file extension '''so''' is derived.
==Implicit vs Explicit linking==
In [[implicit linking]], an operating system sees that a program will require the use of a library, and loads it automatically. In [[explicit linking]], the running program asks the operating system to load the library.
=Statically-linked Libraries=
Statically-linked libraries are combined with a program's code at [[compile-time]], their code and the program's code combined to form a single executable.
=See also=
* [[Category:Solutions by Library]]
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