title: what is the difference between .so and .a files?
body: <p>I am trying to compile a 3rd party library( on linux) and see that it is generating libsomething.a files I have my other libraries which are .so file</p>
  
  <p>But it appears that even .a is shared library and can be used just like a .so lib</p>
  
  <p>So is there any difference between the two ? or they are just same with different naming convention.</p>