Understanding Packages

[Geoffrey Hunter]

Hello:
       I'm trying to understand what a "package" (.tar) is, why applications
are (usually) supplied as a package, and how/when the components of the package
are loaded and executed when the application is active.  If you know of a text 
that really explains this, giving me the URL (or other reference - say a book) 
would be the best way to answer this query.

       I guess that much Linux software is written in C, and I've noticed that
C doesn't allow functions to be defined (nested) within other functions; MAIN
and all the functions that it calls, and all the functions that they call, are
at the same hierarchical level, with data/results being passed between them
via parameters of the functions.  I guess that this could be the explanation 
for why applications come as a package of C functions, even though only one 
(or a few) of the many functions that comprise the package are called 
(callable) by the user ?

       I need to know, because I'm in the middle of revising a paper extolling 
the virtues of nested, vs. non-nested, environments; I want to say something 
about C and Linux (and perhaps Micro$oft Windows), and of course I want what 
I say to be accurate.

Geoffrey Hunter
Chemistry Building Room 318
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