Editing Shared library (section)

==Dynamic loading==
{{Main|Dynamic loading}}
Dynamic loading, a subset of dynamic linking, involves a dynamically linked library loading and unloading at [[Runtime (program lifecycle phase)|runtime]] on request. Such a request may be made implicitly or explicitly. Implicit requests are made when a compiler or static linker adds library references that include file paths or simply file names.{{cn|date=March 2020}} Explicit requests are made when applications make direct calls to an operating system's API.

Most operating systems that support dynamically linked libraries also support dynamically loading such libraries via a [[Runtime (program lifecycle phase)|run-time]] linker [[Application programming interface|API]]. For instance, [[Microsoft Windows]] uses the API functions <code>LoadLibrary</code>, <code>LoadLibraryEx</code>, <code>FreeLibrary</code> and <code>GetProcAddress</code> with [[Microsoft Dynamic Link Library|Microsoft Dynamic Link Libraries]]; [[POSIX]]-based systems, including most UNIX and UNIX-like systems, use <code>dlopen</code>, <code>dlclose</code> and <code>dlsym</code>. Some development systems automate this process.