What does 'inline' mean?

[Avrina]

On Wednesday, 10 June 2020 at 01:48:20 UTC, Walter Bright wrote:
> On 6/9/2020 4:31 PM, Manu wrote:
>> Redundant work,
>
> It isn't redundant work to do it in the linker. It is redundant 
> to do half of the linker's job in the compiler, throw away the 
> other half of it, and re-do it in the linker.
>
> > undesired object bloat,
>
> Not a problem since we moved on from floppy disks.

People complain about Visual Studio's download size, most of the 
download is library files.

I imagine it is also a problem for high performance computing as 
well. So, yes still a problem.

> > and various potential link issues/errors.
>
> I suppose that fits in with the common notion that the linker 
> is black magic full of trolls and dragons. It isn't, it's a 
> boringly simple program. Although it is true that probably only 
> 1 in 100 programmers can explain what a linker does.
>
> (Most of the complexity of linkers is not inherent, it is the 
> result of file formats designed by hamsters and workarounds for 
> compiler and loader bugs. You have to pity the linker developer 
> - there's no glamor, nobody understands what they do, nobody 
> praises them, they just dump on them with "what does 'undefined 
> symbol mean' - must be a bug in the linker" questions.)

I think maybe new programmers think that, ones that come from 
languages like python or otherwise where they don't have to deal 
with the abomination known as a linker. That's the  thing, the 
way the workflow is setup the problem usually isn't with the 
linker which makes it really annoying to try and find where the 
problem actually is. Especially if it's a compiler bug :).