I have a bit of a confusing question. I was checking out the BusyBox about page, and they mentioned something about it being very modular, allowing you to include or exclude commands and features at compile time. Can someone explain what that means? Why don't programmers just decide what to include or exclude before compiling? I'm really not getting it.
1 Answer
Think of it like this: during compile time, your computer transforms your code into machine code, which is super efficient for it to read. When you compile, it can include only the parts of your code that you actually need (like specific functions from a package). This way, it saves space and improves efficiency because it doesn’t have to include unused code. So, if a library has four functions, but you only use three, only the three get built into your final software, effectively optimizing it! It's about customizing what's in your final product without cluttering it up with unnecessary features.
Got it! Just to clarify, in C, does this mean the GCC or CC compiler will include parts of the code in the binary, even if they aren't actually used or imported?