Difference between .dll and .exe?

Question

I want to know the exact difference between the dll and exe file.

Answer 1

An EXE is visible to the system as a regular Win32 executable. Its entry point refers to a small loader which initializes the .NET runtime and tells it to load and execute the assembly contained in the EXE. A DLL is visible to the system as a Win32 DLL but most likely without any entry points. The .NET runtime stores information about the contained assembly in its own header.

dll is a collection of reusable functions where as an .exe is an executable which may call these functions

Answer 2

Difference in DLL and EXE:

1) DLL is an In-Process Component which means running in the same memory space as the client process. EXE is an Out-Process Component which means it runs in its own separate memory space.

2) The DLL contains functions and procedures that other programs can use (promotes reuability) while EXE cannot be shared with other programs.

3) DLL cannot be directly executed as they're designed to be loaded and run by other programs. EXE is a program that is executed directly.

Answer 3

The major exact difference between DLL and EXE that DLL hasn't got an entry point and EXE does. If you are familiar with c++ you can see that build EXE has main() entry function and DLL doesn't :)