Wow, thanks everyone.

The way I am planning to do it now, is that my compiler will compile to assembly. I guess that initially (and possibly permanently) I will use a third party assembler to then go from assembly to machine code (.exe). To implement the various built-in language functions like printing to screen, reading input etc I will create dll files in C that contain the functions for my standard commands, so basically when such a command is encountered by my compiler, in the generated ASM, it will call the associated function from the libraries (dll''s) that I wrote in C.

Can anyone recomend an assembler I should use that would be appropriate for me? I know MASM has a lot of macros and other functions, however because the aim of this project is to learn, and it is a piece of coursework, I would ideally aim to compile to low level ASM, rather than the macro enhanced high level one.

At the moment I just need to assemble console exe''s that work under windows, and then eventually actual windows exe''s.

Again, help is much appreciated.

quote:
A "console exe" IS an actual Windows executable.

So in terms of the exe protocol, windows exe''s are exactly the same, except for it having different calls in the code (ie to winmain etc)?

I though that the non-program information in a windows exe is different?

Thanks for pointing that out.