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Posted by NC on 07/20/07 18:14
On Jul 20, 5:30 am, Martin Larsen <martin+spamfree+lar...@bigfoot.com>
wrote:
>
> I understand that PHP is very different than say a Windows
> executable,
PHP isn't (it can be a Windows executable). PHP scripts are.
> and perhaps linking is not the right term for what happens.
Not at all. Here's an analogy. You have a word processor. Every
time it starts, it loads every bit of code that has been statically
linked during compilation. Every once in a while it may link to
dynamic libraries if a document it loads or user input require it to
do so. Documents, however, are not linked to anything in any way;
they are only data that the program processes.
With PHP, the PHP interpreter is the functional analog of the word
processor (it is a program that processes user-submitted data); PHP
scripts, functionally, are documents (user-submitted data); an include/
require is akin to an instruction to include a subdocument into the
main document.
> Anyway, in your opinion, does the mechanism rememble dynamic
> or static linking most?
Neither. Static linking and dynamic linking are terms applicable only
to compiled languages; in case of an interpreted language, they are
only meaningful when applied to the interpreter, not to scripts it
parses.
> Btw, if I were to get an "official" statement, do you by
> chance know who I should contact?
The PHP group: http://www.php.net/contact.php
Cheers,
NC
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