Object code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:23, 30 July 2014

Revision as of 21:16, 19 October 2014

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Object code is a portion of machine code that hasn't yet been linked into a complete program. It's the machine code for one particular library or module that will make up the completed product. It may also contain placeholders or offsets not found in the machine code of a completed program that the linker will use to connect everything together.

Machine code is binary (1's and 0's) code that can be executed directly by the cpu. If you were to open a "machine code" file in a text editor you would see garbageunintelligible code, including unprintable characters.

Object code is a variant of machine code, with a difference that the jumps are sort of parameterized such that a linker can fill them in.

An assembler is used to convert assembly code into machine code (object code). A linker links several object (and library) files to generate an executable.