What is external linkage and internal linkage?

Question

I want to understand the external linkage and internal linkage and their difference.

I also want to know the meaning of

const variables internally link by default unless otherwise declared as extern.

Answer 1

In C++

Any variable at file scope and that is not nested inside a class or function, is visible throughout all translation units in a program. This is called external linkage because at link time the name is visible to the linker everywhere, external to that translation unit.

Global variables and ordinary functions have external linkage.

Static object or function name at file scope is local to translation unit. That is called as Internal Linkage

Linkage refers only to elements that have addresses at link/load time; thus, class declarations and local variables have no linkage.

Answer 2

Linkage determines whether identifiers that have identical names refer to the same object, function, or other entity, even if those identifiers appear in different translation units. The linkage of an identifier depends on how it was declared. There are three types of linkages:

1. Internal linkage : identifiers can only be seen within a translation unit.
2. External linkage : identifiers can be seen (and referred to) in other translation units.
3. No linkage : identifiers can only be seen in the scope in which they are defined. Linkage does not affect scoping

C++ only : You can also have linkage between C++ and non-C++ code fragments, which is called language linkage.

Source :IBM Program Linkage

Answer 3

In terms of 'C' (Because static keyword has different meaning between 'C' & 'C++')

Lets talk about different scope in 'C'

SCOPE: It is basically how long can I see something and how far.

1. Local variable : Scope is only inside a function. It resides in the STACK area of RAM. Which means that every time a function gets called all the variables that are the part of that function, including function arguments are freshly created and are destroyed once the control goes out of the function. (Because the stack is flushed every time function returns)

2. Static variable: Scope of this is for a file. It is accessible every where in the file
   in which it is declared. It resides in the DATA segment of RAM. Since this can only be accessed inside a file and hence INTERNAL linkage. Any
   other files cannot see this variable. In fact STATIC keyword is the only way in which we can introduce some level of data or function
   hiding in 'C'

3. Global variable: Scope of this is for an entire application. It is accessible form every where of the application. Global variables also resides in DATA segment Since it can be accessed every where in the application and hence EXTERNAL Linkage

By default all functions are global. In case, if you need to hide some functions in a file from outside, you can prefix the static keyword to the function. :-)