A Machine-Independent Linker

Linkers, although a well-established component of language translation, are typically machine-dependent, idiosyncratic, and hard for many users to understand. This paper describes a machine-independent linker and object language. The linker embodies those linking functions that are machine-independent and centralizes them in a single tool, simplifying compilers, assemblers, and loaders. Included are descriptions of its operation, implementation, and application.