What is the difference between dynamic and static linking?

Answer 1

in a standard C# program, various built-in-functions, which are invoked by the program, are resolved to a library during compilation. the library contains code for these functions.

the compiler identifies the library required for the function and copies the code from the library to the program. this technique is called static linking.

when a program is compiled, the compiler does not copy the code from the library to the program. instead, the compiler inserts a reference, consisting of the name of the library and function, in the program. the reference is looked up at run time. this is called dynamic linking.

Answer 2

Dynamic linking occurs at runtime where the necessary libraries are linked to the executable by the operating system. This results in smaller executable files and allows for easier updates to shared libraries. Static linking, on the other hand, occurs at compile time where the related libraries are copied into the executable, resulting in larger files but with no dependency on external libraries.