From: "M. Edward (Ed) Borasky" <znmeb@...>
Date: 2008-01-03T00:55:50+09:00
Subject: Re: Windows Ruby (was Re: Zed Shaw - Ruby has dodged a bullet)

Thufir wrote:
> On Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:56:31 +0900, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:
> 
> 
>> Well, briefly -- in most cases, a Ruby extension written in C needs to
>> be compiled and "linked" (converted to a DLL)
> 
> 
> Completely off topic, but what's the equivalent for Linux?
> 
> 
> -Thufir
> 
> 
> 

There is a compiler, usually gcc but others exist. It translates the C
code to an object file. Then there is a linker which collects all of the
object files and translates them to a "shared library", which usually
has a name ending in ".so". At run time, the shared library is brought
into working memory the first time a Ruby program references it, and
other Ruby programs can then reference it without having to load another
copy.