Xcode: Linked Frameworks vs Other Frameworks

Question

Coming from a C background, what would "Linked Frameworks" and "Other Frameworks" mean?

Having a look at my build target, I see that Linked Frameworks are in fact linked (dynamically, I presume - how would static linking work?)

What are "Other Frameworks" for then?

To test, I used the NSString class which is defined by Foundation in a file. Foundation is in Other Frameworks and is not being linked with the target.

Alas, compilation finished without warnings and the executable ran.

Answer 1

They're just groups in the Groups & Files hierarchy. They don't have any more meaning than that.

The frameworks referenced in Other Frameworks are just there so you can twist them down to see their headers easily, because (for example) Cocoa.framework doesn't itself actually contain the physical Foundation.framework, AppKit.framework and CoreData.framework directories. It just acts as if it does when linking, for developer convenience.