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Guy Harris (talk | contribs) →{{anchor|Consolidator}}Linkage editor: Rephrase to make it clear that there's a hardware range (S/360 through IBM Z) and an OS range (OS/360 through z/OS). |
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[[File:Linker.svg|thumb|An illustration of the linking process. Object files and [[static library|static libraries]] are assembled into a new library or executable]]
A '''linker''' or '''link editor''' is a [[computer program]] that combines intermediate [[software build]] files such as [[object file|object]] and [[library (computing)|library]] files into a single [[executable]] file such as a program or library. A linker is often part of a [[toolchain]] that includes a [[compiler]] and/or [[assembler (computing)|assembler]] that generates intermediate files that the linker processes. The linker may be integrated with other toolchain [[development tool|tools]] such that the user does not interact with the linker directly.
A simpler version that writes its [[Input/output|output]] directly to [[Computer memory|memory]] is called the ''loader'', though [[loader (computing)|loading]] is typically considered a separate process.<ref name="IBM_1972"/><ref name="Barron_1978_Consolidator"/>
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