SDL runtime binaries, what are they used for?

Question

I am following a tutorial that takes me to this SDL page (https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php). In there, I can see three things I can download:

• Source code
• Runtime Binaries
• Development libraries

I am trying to make sense out of them. My understanding is this:

• Source Code: Is the original code made by the creator of the SDL, not compiled into a library.
• Runtime Binaries: I have no idea
• Development libraries: Is the code but this time compiled into libraries. There are two versions because one was compiled in a way that works with the VC (Visual compiler) and the other one is compiled in a way that works with the gcc compiler.

What are the runtime binaries for? I imagine these thee scenarios:

• Source Code: I am writing my project and when I hit compile I compie what I wrote alone with the SDL source code.
• Runtime binaries: ?
• Development libraries: I set up my programming environment to recognize the libraries. Then I write my code and when I hit compile the compiler compiles my code and then the linker links my code and the SDL libraries together into an executable.

Answer 1

The runtime binaries / libraries are the files that your application needs to use at run-time to access the library functions. They are the files that contain the actual compiled code of the library that your application will call when it is executed.