Linking Modules

When you build a project containing one or more Assembler modules, the Assembler Compiler first creates an object code file (.obj) for each module. Next, you can either have the Assembler compiler automatically link the object code file into an executable load module (.390) or you can run a separate linker process that combines several object modules into a single linked load module. The link process uses its own link file (.lin) containing link commands. The Assembler automatically searches for external references in CALL commands in the object code files and includes additional object code files as necessary to resolve the external references.

Linking modules when you build the project is known as static linking. You can also link modules dynamically at execution time, when external references in LINK or LOAD commands are resolved.