ELF format and other formats?
 

What's the difference between linux ELF binary format and other formats? Which one is preferable from the point of view of a developer?

On Linux, ELF is meant to replace the old "a.out" binary format.. I don't know about any formats other than those two on Linux (they might exist, I just don't know about them ;) But ELF is the best one to use, anyway.

Thanks for the info. :)

a.out was an absolute core image. ELF is relocatable. ELF gained popularity when Unix/Linux apps started getting too big to gracefully have everything preloaded - ELF libraries are functionally equivalent to Windows DLLs.