Python bindings tutorial

Alf P. Steinbach alfps at start.no
Fri Mar 19 03:01:46 EDT 2010


* Tim Roberts:
> Dave Angel <davea at ieee.org> wrote:
>> There's no real reason parts of an exe cannot be exported, same as a 
>> dll.  They are in fact the same structure.  And in fact many other files 
>> in the Windows environment are also the same structure, from fonts to ocx's


This is a bit off-topic, but your explanation is incorrect in some key respects, 
so (no offense) to avoid readers getting an incorrect impression:


> Well, there IS a fundamental difference.  EXEs and DLLs and the like do all
> have the same format.  They all have a "transfer address"

Commonly called an "entry point".

This is the term you need to know about when e.g. linking object files.



>, where execution
> begins.  That's the key problem.  With a DLL, the transfer address goes to
> a DllMain, where certain DLL initialization is done, preparing the other
> entry points for use.

Right, modulo terminology: there's only one "entry point" in a PE format file.


>  With an EXE, the transfer address goes to "main".

Sorry, no, the EXE entry point goes to a routine of no arguments.

Typically, in C and C++ that's a run time library routine (e.g. with Microsoft's 
run time library mainCRTStartup or one of its cousins) which in turn calls the 
C/C++ "main", while in Pascal it runs the main program, so on.

Note that the EXE entry point is probably still incorrectly documented as 
requiring WinMain signature  --  it's the most infamous Microsoft documentation 
screw-up.


> So, when you load an EXE as a DLL, you will be RUNNING the program.

Sorry, no, that's not what happens.

The Windows API LoadLibrary(Ex) knows the difference between an EXE and a DLL.

It's documented as handling both sub-formats, and it does.


>  That's is usually not what you want.

If that had happened then it would be a problem, yes. Happily it doesn't happen. 
I've discussed the real problems else-thread.


Cheers & hth.,

- Alf



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