Why is one d file compiled into two files object file & executable.

[Andre Artus via Digitalmars-d-learn]

On Wednesday, 11 February 2015 at 05:08:16 UTC, Venkat Akkineni 
wrote:
> Hi
>
> I am coming from Java. What is the purpose of an object file & 
> why is it generated at compile time in addition to an 
> executable. I know C generates an object file too, but I don't 
> know what the use is.
>


Hi Venkat,

The object files are kind of an intermediate format produced by 
the compiler, to be used by the linker in generating the 
executable.

> Please point me to any detailed documentation u may have 
> regarding object files.
>

If you wish to learn more the following Wikipedia article is a 
reasonable starting point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_file


> Also does D have any facilities for dynamic code generation & 
> compilation ?
>

Yes, it does.

D has good support for meta-programming, look at 
http://ddili.org/ders/d.en/ under the template and mixin 
sections, and also http://qznc.github.io/d-tut/meta.html