Dynamic linking of software components |
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Authors: | Franz M |
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Affiliation: | Dept. of Inf. & Comput. Sci., California Univ., Irvine, CA; |
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Abstract: | Traditionally, dynamic linkers merely combined previously compiled pieces of code. Faster processors are now making outright code generation at load time practical, leading to cross-platform portability at very little extra cost. While the central idea behind dynamic linking is quite straightforward, it can be implemented through a surprising variety of strategies. The author contrasts three simple dynamic linking schemes with two much more elaborate strategies. The latter represent a workload shift from the compiler to the dynamic linker, just as dynamic linking itself represents a shift that moves the functions of a separate linker into the loader. Because the new techniques promise the profound additional benefit of cross-platform portability, they will most likely displace the currently popular linking-loader approach |
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