What is compiler, linker, loader?

Question

I wanted to know in depth meaning and working of compiler, linker and loader. With reference to any language preferably c++.

Answer 1

Wikipedia ought to have a good answer, here's my thoughts:

• Compiler: reads something.c source, writes something.o object.
• Linker: joins several *.o files into an executable program.
• Loader: code that loads an executable into memory and starts it running.