title: Why does visual studio create a .LIB along with the .DLL?
body: <p>I have a project "Logger" wherein the configuration type is .dll.</p>
  
  <p>"Logger" uses "libconfig" (an open source config parser). Currently, I have a separate project for "libconfig" and its configuration type is .lib</p>
  
  <p>I added "libconfig" to Logger's frameworks and references setting with:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>link library depedencies = true</li>
  <li>use library dependency inputs = false</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>In Logger's linker command line, i see:
  /IMPLIB: "path\to\Logger.lib"</p>
  
  <p>My question is:
  Why does Logger.lib need to be created? I see 
  /OUT = "path\to\Logger.dll", but I'm trying to get a hang of visual studio's build process.</p>
  
  <p>From <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/67wc07b9.aspx">M$'s IMPLIB doc</a>, I see its part of the LINK process. I still don't get it.</p>
  
  <p>Edit: I didn't mention how the Logger DLL was to be used. My application would be loading it at run-time (since this functionality is only required for specific cmd line args)</p>