executable files

Vivek,

EXE files are used for launching an application (it contains a startup function etc), whereas DLLs are loaded into an application (ie they can't run by themselves).

EXE:
1.It's a executable file
2.When loading an executable, no export is called, but only the module entry point.
3.When a system launches new executable, a new process is created
4.The entry thread is called in context of main thread of that process.

DLL:
1.It's a Dynamic Link Library
2.There are multiple exported symbols.
3.The system loads a DLL into the context of an existing process.

Hope this will help.

Abhishek

DLL:
1)it has versioning
2)it is not self executable
3)it runs in application process memory
4)it has no entry point
5)it is reusable
 
Exe:
1)it is self executable
2)it has no versioning
3)it runs in own memory
4)it have main function(Entry point)