C++ source code compilation

[Juha Nieminen]

Aha, gotcha.

By your own definition a linker does *not* produce "machine code".

Why? Because your own definition was "machine code is a file that can
be run without modification". A linker will produce eg. an .exe file on
Windows, which can *not* be run without modification. The same is true
in linux and other unix systems (where the executable file will be in
COFF or ELF format, both similar to .exe in that they require modification
before they can be run).

Please claim that I'm wrong.

Haha. No response? Seems that I pwnd you.

 

[Juha Nieminen]

That is utter bullshit, An exe can be run directly.

No, it can't. Please educate yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portable_Executable&oldid=464930661

Read especially carefully the entirety of the "Technical details" section.

Still don't believe me? Download a hex editor and open any .exe file
with it, and examine the first bytes. What do you see? The first two bytes
are "MZ". That's *not* machine code. That's an ID for the file format.
What follows it isn't machine code either, but instructions for the dynamic
linker (such as relocation and rebasing data).

An .exe file cannot be run as-is. It requires modifications before it
can be run by the CPU.

(The reason why I gave a permanent link to the wikipedia article above
instead of the regular link is that even if you go and vandalize that page,
it won't help. That link will show the current version of the article and
there's nothing you can do about it.)

 

[Juha Nieminen]

No I plonked you're idiotic bullshit long time ago.

You don't even know what that word means.

You claim that an .exe file can be run directly because it's "machine
code". Yet that's clearly not true, which becomes extremely clear if you
read the specification for the .exe file, or even simply examine one with
a hex editor (the file contains a header and other data that is *not*
machine code, but instead data for the dynamic linker).

But of course your pathological personality disorder makes it impossible
for you to admit this, even against technical specifications of the file
format.