Some considerations... 2

Generally an assembler produces code from only opcodes.
An assembler also uses directives. A directive tells the assembler the context of the opcodes ie near,far,16bit,32bit etc
These opcodes directly tell the processor what to do.
ie push ax pushes the value of ax onto the stack.

If an assembler produces more object code that your opcode generation then it isnt a true assembler (more like a compiler).

You only need to include librarys if you are using routines within them, just like you do pascal with "uses dos,crt" etc

use of these libraries is made by use of a far call. You must prepare the pre-requisits before making the call.

If you are interfacing with an operating system you must ensure that the OS libraries you use are loaded and ready for your use.

you must find an assembler to suit your needs. There are plenty of free assembly tools to download free off the net for any OS but generally if its for windows then you will have to pay. If you plan to program in windows then you need resources to learn how to do it (you'll have to pay for those too).
"People who have nothing to say, say it too loud and have little knowledge. It's the quiet ones you need to worry about!"

This is Win32Asm.

The 'Invoke' way is the way MASM does it.

The push way is the way TASM does it.

Generally in writing Win32Asm you want the API calls to stand out so you use Invoke. In fact, many TASM coders use macros to simulate the Invoke call (they usually call it SCall or SCALL). Note that either way most of the time the same amount of code gets generated. In fact you might consider Invoke as a glorified macro which is already predefined by the assembler.

If you look at the include files packaged with MASM32, you'll just see a lot of PROTO declarations. These simply tell the PE loader to import the routines from the OS's library. You can remove the include files but you will have to PROTO the routines you use manually. And if ever you do not call a PROTO'ed routine, it won't get imported at all, so no worries about Include files bloating the exe. If you look at the include files included in MASM32 you will NEVER see any actual code, just PROTO's, STRUC defs, EQU's, and MACRO's. The bloat is all at compile time and never reaches the obj file. Note however that there are some very tricky ways in which you do not even need to PROTO OS routines (to save space if your file is < 5Kb), if you have MASM32 v 7 you can find one way in \Masm32\Example8\mob\Noimport
Hutch's MASM32 package is good, particularly the latest version (v7). Note that MASM32 is NOT MASM (but includes MASM) so MASM32 v7 actually includes MASM v.6.14.4888 he he he.

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