Revision as of 17:57, 1 February 2025 edit Jamarr81 (talk \| contribs) 380 edits →Runtime libraries: Added a sub-section header for the existing →UCRT: content, for easier cross-referencing. Tag: 2017 wikitext editor ← Previous edit		Revision as of 21:57, 1 February 2025 edit undo Jamarr81 (talk \| contribs) 380 edits Added a →Library Sources: section to clarify and disambiguate some of the unintentional(?) misconceptions or misinterpretations the first 3 paragraphs tried to convey. These updates also provide an explicit and clear distinction between dynamically-linked and statically-linked libraries and how those are provided/distributed, which should address some concerns/ambiguities noted on the Talk page. I also added several cross-references to other related pages where relevant. Tag: Visual edit Next edit →
Line 5: {{Update\|date=September 2024}} }} The [[Microsoft Windows]] [[operating system]] and [[Microsoft Windows SDK]] ~~supports~~support a ~~form~~collection of [[shared libraries]] ~~known~~that ~~as "~~[[~~dynamic-link libraries~~software]]~~", which are code libraries that~~ can beuse ~~used~~to byaccess ~~multiple processes while only one copy is loaded into~~the [[~~computer~~Windows ~~memory\|memory~~API]]. This article provides an overview of the core libraries that are included with every modern Windows [[Installation (computer programs)\|installation]], on top of which most Windows [[Application software\|applications]] are built. == Library Sources == The Windows operating system contains [[Compiler\|compiled]] versions of these libraries known as [[dynamic-link libraries\|dynamically-linked libraries]] ([[.dll]]), which are [[Portable Executable\|executable]] libraries that can be used by multiple [[Computer program\|programs]] while only one copy of the library is loaded into [[computer memory\|memory]]. These are canonically referred to as [[system libraries]] and all programs installed on the system can utilize them. The Windows SDK additionally distributes compiled versions of these libraries know as [[Statically linked library\|statically-linked libraries]] ([[.lib]]), which are non-executable libraries that, in whole or in part, can be embedded into a program when it is compiled. The most common Windows compilers being [[Visual Studio\|Microsoft Visual Studio]] and [[Mingw-w64\|MinGW]]. == Internal components ==

Microsoft Windows library files: Difference between revisions