.lib .so and .dll confusion

[simonh]

hi all. can someone please explain what these different file types are?
I am using winxp and when looking in 'c:\ruby\lib' directory I see

msvcrt-ruby18-static.lib
msvcrt-ruby18.lib

then in 'c:\ruby\lib\ruby\1.8\i386-mswin32'

stringio.so
win32ole.so
curses.so

etc

the '.so' file are shared objects i think? does the 'digest.so' allow
me to use md5 and sha1 checksums on its own?

why do i have 'curses.so' but curses examples will not work unless i
have pdcurses.dll in my bin directory.

question is: when does a win32 user need a .dll and when are they ok
just with a .so or .lib?

any explanation appreciated.

 

[simonh]

sorry all. when i said 'I am using winxp', i meant to say 'a friend of
mine is using winxp'. i love linux. any chance of a reply now?

 

[Adam Sanderson]

I think for all intents and purposes they are the same thing with
different extensions
.adam

 

[simonh]

thanks for reply Adam. i thought maybe a dll was required when
accessing os dependent components. goodness knows what a .so file is
(other than standing for shared object maybe). no doubt they are all C
creations.

 

[simonh]

thanks for reply Adam. i thought maybe a dll was required when
accessing os dependent components. goodness knows what a .so file is
(other than standing for shared object maybe). no doubt they are all C
creations.