Tuesday, January 25, 2011

What are dll files...?

            Dynamic link library (DLL) is a collection of small programs, which can be called upon when needed by the executable program (EXE) that is running.
            Programmers use dll files to provide codes that can be reused and can carry distinct jobs. dll files cannot be called directly unlike an exe file but needs to be called by a program that is already running.
            An example would be if the program (exe) needs to get the free space of your hard drive. It can call the DLL file that contains the function with parameters and a call function. The DLL will then tell the executable the free space. This allows the executable to be smaller in size and not have to write the function that has already exists.
            The advantage of DLL files is that, because they do not get loaded into RAM together with the main program, space is saved in RAM. When and if a DLL file is called, then it is loaded.

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