A Primer on Shared Objects and Static Libraries ​

Shared Objects ​

Pros ​

• Smaller in size, as they are not linked with the application at compile time.
• Loaded into memory at runtime. Multiple applications can use the same shared object, reducing memory usage.
• If updated, all applications that use the shared object will benefit from the updates.

Cons ​

• There is a performance cost to loading a shared object into memory at runtime.
• Shared objects can be more complex to manage, as they may have dependencies on other shared objects.
• There is a potential security risk if a shared object is compromised, as it can be accessed by multiple applications.

Static Libraries ​

Pros ​

• Static libraries are linked with the application at compile time, resulting in faster load times.
• There are no external dependencies, as all the required code is included in the executable.
• There is no runtime performance cost associated with loading the library.

Cons ​

• Static libraries can result in larger executable files.
• If a static library is updated, the application must be recompiled to take advantage of the update.
• If multiple applications use the same static library, each application must include its own copy of the library, resulting in increased memory usage.