title: Visual Studio: What exactly are lib files (used for)?
body: <p>I'm learning C++ and came across those *.lib files that are obviously used by the linker. I had to set some additional dependencies for OpenGL.</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>What exactly are library files in this context used for?</li>
  <li>What are their contents?</li>
  <li>How are they generated?</li>
  <li>Is there anything else worth knowing about them?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Or are they just nothing more than relocateable object code similiar to *.obj files?</p>