What is the difference between a 'symbolic link' and a 'hard link'? Are these basically like a shortcut in windows?

from tldp

hard link

A directory entry, which maps a filename to an inode, number. A file may have multiple names or hard links. The link count gives the number of names by which a file is accessible. Hard links do not allow multiple names for directories and do not allow multiple names in different filesystems


symbolic link or soft link

A special filetype, which is a small pointer file, allowing multiple names for the same file. Unlike hard links, symbolic links can be made for directories and can be made across filesystems. Commands that access the file being pointed to are said to follow the symbolic link. Commands that access the link itself do not follow the symbolic link.

This link points to a thread in which I gave a somewhat detailed discussion of hard links, soft links, and inodes. It should help you with your question.

ohhhh...your explanation is much better than mine...the best i could find were definitions with no real explanation of what they do...nice job