linker

What does linking mean in the context of compilers?


I'm learning more about compilers. While trying to understand this Wikipedia article on LLVM I ran across the term "linking". I've seen this term before but don't truly understand it. In the context of compilers what does linking mean?


Solution

  • Linking is the process of connecting all the compiled objects to each other to form the final executable. When you call a function in one piece of code, it's the job of the linker to hook the code that calls the function to the code that implements the function.