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From the Publisher: Whatever your programming language, whatever your platform, you probably tap into linker and loader functions all the time. But do you know how to use them to their greatest possible advantage Only now, with the publication of Linkers & Loaders, is there an authoritative book devoted entirely to these deep-seated compile-time and run-time processes. The book begins with a detailed and comparative account of linking and loading that illustrates the differences among various compilers and operating systems. On top of this foundation, the author presents clear practical advice to help you create faster, cleaner code. You ll learn to avoid the pitfalls associated with Windows DLLs, take advantage of the space-saving, performance-improving techniques supported by many modern linkers, make the best use of the UNIX ELF library scheme, and much more. If you re serious about programming, you ll devour this unique guide to one of the field s least understood topics. Linkers & Loaders is also an ideal supplementary text for compiler and operating systems courses. Features Includes a linker construction project written in Perl, with project files available for download. Covers dynamic linking in Windows, UNIX, Linux, BeOS, and other operating systems. Explains the Java linking model and how it figures in network applets and extensible Java code. Helps you write more elegant and effective code, and build applications that compile, load, and run more efficiently. About the Authors John Levine is the author or co-author of many books, including lex & yac (OReilly), Programming for Graphics Files in C and C++ (Wiley), and The Internet for Dummies (IDG). He is also publisher emeritus of the Journal of C Language Translation, long-time moderator of the comp.compilers newsgroup, and the creator of one of the first commercial Fortran 77 compilers. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Yale University.