Video Overview

• What is static vs dynamic linking?

• Static

  • Build a library whose code gets copied into the final executable when linking.
  • File formats
    • MacOS - .a
    • Linux - .a
    • Windows - .lib

• Dynamic

  • Build a library that stays as a separate file, and the executable loads it at runtime.
  • File formats
    • MacOS - .dylib
    • Linux - .so (shared object)
    • Windows - .dll

• Static libMathLib.a | +----> App A (copy add()) +----> App B (copy add()) +----> App C (copy add())

• Dynamic App A ----
  App B -----+----> libMathLib.dylib App C ----/

Commands

cmake -S . -B build && cmake --build build

# lldb commands
image list
image lookup --name add

Titles

• What Does the C++ Linker Actually Do?
• What's the Difference Between Static and Dynamic Linking in C++?
• How Does C++ Link Static and Dynamic Libraries?
• What does the C++ compiler do when you link your code?

References

• cppreference.com
• learncpp.com
• ChatGPT and Gemini