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Important: This document is part of the Legacy section of the ADC Reference Library. This information should not be used for new development.

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NOTE: This Technical Q&A has been retired. Please see the Technical Q&As page for current documentation.

Extensions vs. Libraries

Q: What's the difference between the QuickDraw 3D extensions and the xxxLib files in the folder Development:Libraries on the QuickDraw 3D SDK CD-ROM?

A: The xxxLib files in the Libraries folder are stub libraries. The stubs are much smaller than the Extensions installed in the System Extensions folder, and, therefore, can be included in your project file without bloating it unnecessarily.

The files in the Extensions folder are the real libraries. When your application runs, it will dynamically link to libraries found in either your application folder or (more commonly) the Extensions folder. Since the system will use the library in your application's folder first (if it's there), you can experiment with new libraries without disturbing other applications that use QuickDraw 3D.

The QuickDraw 3D extensions installed by the installer are the normal extensions; those found in the Development:Debug folder are the extensions with extra debugging code. They will be slower, but during development of your application, they will be much more helpful in tracking down bugs.


Extensions			Stubs
QuickDraw 3D			  QuickDraw3DLib
QuickDraw 3D Viewer		  QuickDraw3DViewerLib
QuickDraw3D Accelerator		  QuickDraw3DAcceleratorLib

[Apr 08 1996]

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