Executables

Revision as of 15:02, 22 March 2014

Container formats for machine executable code. These often define different sections to be loaded into memory. Some formats may be compatible with different CPU architectures.

Directly executable

• a.out
• COFF — The Common Object File Format, an executable format originally designed for use in UNIX System V
• Commodore 64 binary executable (.prg)
• DOS executable (.com) — 16 bit DOS executable
• EXE — The original DOS executable format, with variants like NE (New Executable), PE (Portable Executable, actually a COFF variant), LX (Linear Executable) and others, as used in Microsoft MS-DOS and MS Windows (and some other operating systems like SkyOS)
• ELF
• Intel HEX
• iOS app (.app) (see also IPA for archived version, and Mobile Provision file for provision file accompanying apps)
• Mach-O

Shared libraries, chained files, etc.

(can't be run by themselves, but are used at runtime by other executables)

• Assembly manifest (Windows) (.manifest)
• Dynamic-link library (Windows) (.dll)
• Dynamic library (OS X or iOS) (.dylib)
• Turbo Pascal chain file (.chn)

See also Source code for code in a higher-level programming language that needs to be compiled, assembled, or interpreted, and Development for other files used in the development process, including object and library files that get linked into a finished executable.

Virtual machine code

• Bytecode (or p-code) — programs "compiled" into machine-independent code that loads or runs more quickly than raw interpreted source code; runs in an interpreter
• Universal Machine (ICFP programming contest 2006)

Links

• Download Wrappers and Unwanted Software are pure evil
• Flappy Bird implementations for various classic platforms