Comparing load & go and link/load compiler organizations
William L. Wilder · 1980
Compilers usually produce either absolute code that is executed immediately upon conclusion of the compilation or object code that is transformed by a linking loader into absolute code. These compiler organizations will be called Load & Go and Link/Load. Both Load & Go and Link/Load compilers use a number of passes to translate the source program into absolute code. A pass reads some form of the source program, transforms it into an another form, and normally outputs this form to an intermediate file which may be the input of a later pass.