GATE CSE 2004 | Question: 9

Question

Consider a program $P$ that consists of two source modules $M_1$ and $M_2$ contained in two different files. If $M_1$ contains a reference to a function defined in $M_2$ the reference will be resolved at 

• A. Edit time
• B. Compile time
• C. Link time
• D. Load time

Comments

edit time ???

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It is the time when we write(or Edit) the program.

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Edit time: Writing/editing source code.

Compile time: Translating source → object code.

Link time: Combining object files & libraries → executable.

Load time: Loading executable into memory for execution.

Answer 1

answer - C. Each module is compiled separately and then linked together to make the executable. The below commands shows how to do this for two modules $c1.c$ and $c2.c$ using $gcc$. 

gcc -c c1.c -o c1.o
gcc -c c2.c -o c2.o
gcc c1.o c2.o -o C.exe

Comments

https://www.cprogramming.com/compilingandlinking.html nice article on linking

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I got the point of link time but can anyone please explain what is Edit time and load time?

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Answer 2

Linker are the one responsible for resolving external references . so it is link time

Comments

Nice