APPENDIX Libraries A A library lets you package the compiled code and data that implement your API so that your clients can embed these into their own applications. Libraries are the instruments of modularization. This appendix covers the different types of libraries that you can use and how you can create them on var- ious platforms. It also covers physical aspects of API design, namely exposing the public symbols of your API in the symbol export table of its library file. The characteristics, usage, and supporting tools for libraries are inherently platform specific. How you work with a Dynamic Link Library (DLL) on Windows is different from how you work with a Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) on UNIX. I have therefore decided to organize the bulk of the content in this appendix by platform, specifically Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. This also has the benefit of not distracting you with platform-specific details that you do not care about for your current