Dale Rogerson
COM (Component Object Model) forms the foundation of OLE and ActiveX as well as Microsoft's vision for componentized, distributed computing.
Inside COM explains COM from the ground up, beginning with a lucid overview of what COM is and what benefits it offers programmers, then delving into the details of its actual operation. While Rogerson provides code samples in C++, the book isn't about C++ nor is it overwhelmed with program listings. Rogerson masterfully starts with a high-level view that doesn't get swamped in unnecessary detail then later fills in the gaps and addresses advanced topics. He offers just the right approach for programmers who might be intimidated by COM's apparent complexity.
1 The best way to *really* understand the fundamentals of COM
This book begins by assuming the reader knows little more than basic C++. In the second chapter it introduces some simple C++ classes about which the reader will think to herself, "okay, this is simple". From there it builds: adding incremental changes to the original C++ code, gradually making it more useful, explaining each change as it goes. By the end of the book, the original example has grown up into a full fledged COM component, written completely from scratch. No wizards, no templates. At this point the reader will not only be able to recognize the elements of a COM component, but more importantly, she will understand *why* COM works the way it does. The mystery surrounding the ATL and Visual Studio wizards evaporates, and the developer can see them for what they really are: simple shortcuts.
2 A Key to Understanding COM Architecture and Implementation
Hi.
In Inside COM, Dale Rogerson breaks down a software architecture that defies the limit of software reusability via an innovative model: Component Object Model. Rogerson demonstrates a very good understanding of COM. And in this book, he shares his in-depth knowledge via a breakdown of the foundation of COM. The concepts and advices Rogerson presents are imperative for understanding the architecture and creation process of COM components. For instance, the author analyzes object containment and aggregation and demonstrates fully implemented examples of both forms of components. Furthermore, he discusses the importance of reference counting in COM and possible problems programmers face when implementing aggregated components such as memory leak. Rogerson breakdown of COM architecture in this book definitely helps programmers learn COM at its core and move one step closer to designing and implementing their own COM components.
COM design and implementation is an involved process. I believe even the experienced COM programmers would agree. However, in Inside COM Rogerson provides a clear analysis of the theories behind COM and demonstrates each aspect of COM architecture with valuable C++ examples. Lastly, he concludes the book with a complete C++ implementation of a set of COM components that utilizes most if not all the theories he discusses throughout this book. COM architecture offers developers an unparalleled flexibility and Inside COM is a key book to understanding COM.
I recommend Inside COM to advanced C++ programmers and real-world COM developers.
Kuphryn
3 A thorough guide to COM
This book is pretty old, but it is still one of the best books on COM available. The other book I would recommend you buy with this one is Developer's Workshop to COM and ATL 3.0.
4 The best book on COM
COM was black box for me. Fortunately I got this book.I think its the best book on COM. Go ahead and buy it.
5 Great book on COM
Of all the books on COM they either go right into using the library functions with no explination behind them or they get over techincal. This book is the best bet for someone looking to truly learn COM and the methods behind the libraries. I'd recomend this book highly.
6 Great description of how COM works, and why
This book starts out with a simple C++ class called by some other code, and works to encapsulate it into a component, basically implementing COM from scratch. This really lets you understand how it works and why. It's well written and does a good job describing all the details.
As others have mentioned, this is not a book about ActiveX, OLE, ATL, or any of that, and it doesn't pretend to be. This book just describes COM, the basis for those technologies. If you want to really understand what's going on with COM, I highly recommend this book.
7 Perfect, Almost
A great look at COM under the hood. The style is clear and friendly, and the code is very well-written and documented. The author starts the first chapter with an excellent introduction that establishes the merits of COM as a component technology as well as the benefits of component-based programming. The following chapters continue with the development of COM Components from DOS command line programmes to fully-working COM Dll's.
One of the great things about this book is how the author endeavors to explain the cryptic and confusing terminology of COM. I especially enjoyed the explaination of the concept of COM Apartments, which is the best treatment of the subject that I came upon to date.
One has to keep in mind that this book is about COM, and just that. Active X controls are barely touched upon. ATL is not used at all. Instead the author builds his own light-weight library of classes, and that is the only drawback to the book that I can see.
It's a great book for understanding the enternals of COM, but you'll probably need another to cover ATL, which is largely the standard library for writing COM and Active X components in C++.
8 COM explained in plain C++
Amazing book to start learning COM. If you are a C++ programmer and new to COM, read this book. Dale Rogerson has a very good way of telling the story of COM. There are too many buzz words like DCOM, ATL, MTS, OLE... and I wonder how many know what they are talking about. They are all based on COM and get your COM fundamentals right with this book. Here is a great book to start your journey to conquer Microsft technologies.
9 Good book but I think 1 chapter is outdated
Good book I got it with a course and read it totally now. It can be used as an easy to read book for the COM virgin. Pre knowledge must be C++ and windows.
The Don Box book might also be good but as you compare it to this, that book is more difficult to read and technally detailed. Although I just read the 1st chapter of Essential COM.
Only one WARNING: I think the chapter about threads and apartments is outdated or not correct. This thought was confirmed to me in a newsgroup. Just skip this chapter.
10 Learn COM Now!!!
If you want to learn COM in C++, this book is DEFINITELY where you should start. If you find COM difficult to grasp, don't worry, it is most likely because you haven't learned from the right resources, or you haven't read this book.
This book really covers all the essentials of COM programming. The author does a great job in making COM simple to comprehend. For instance, the author takes you step by step in every step of the way in every detail that required for you to get your hands dirty with code practises. Not only the explainations and code samples in the book are CLEAR, they are also backed up with diagrams on topics that are just can not be dissolved by words alone. Nicely done!
If you were to take COM in University, this would be one of the two books required for the course. "Inside COM" would be for COM 100, and "COM and ATL 3.0" would be for COM 200. So if you want to learn COM in C++, these are your BEST BET. They get you started coding immediately, they provide all the required fundumentals, and best of all, they both are well written with NO mumble-jumble space filler!
TIPS: Atfer you done with Andrew's book, go back and read Dale's book on chapter twelve - "Multiple Threads". See how much you had missed, and how everything ties together.
11 Good Book
Must have for first time com programmers - but beware that the book is dated - everyone should be using ATL3.0 now, and this book pre-dates ATL. Very nice intro into the COM basics -- will do well as a prep for 2nd and 3rd bood (look at beginning atl com by grimes, and his advanced professional atl com after you have read this one cover to cover)
12 An excellent book on the topic
This is much more than a COM book. The book spends a lot of time in the first half talking about the more general concept of interfaces, which is more of a software design topic. Then he shows how to implement those interfaces using C++ abstract classes and gives a very good discussion of inheritence, polymorphism, and virtual function tables. Everything is done in pure C++ so you can see what is going on. No wizards or macros to hide the details. The diagrams were very helpful.
Even if you choose to not use the COM architecture for your software the discussion of interfaces will help you write software of much higher quality. Seeing how the interfaces are implemented and the discussion of inheritence and virtual function tables gave me a much better understanding of the C++ language.
The key to understanding COM is understanding interfaces and this book does a very good job explaining them. Eventually when the author gets into the Microsoft specific COM library you can see how those chapters build on the earlier chapters. You can see how a program can evolve from a set of inflexible C++ classes, to some compile-time flexible C++ classes that use interfaces, to run-time flexible components using DLLs, and finally a full blown COM component.
Near the end of the book it is not as thorough with the examples but that is because the topics presented there are too large to fit in a single chapter. The first 8 chapters are worth the price of the book.
13 Great Intro - But Ends Too Soon
This is an excellent book to get of the ground with learning the basics of COM. If you work through the examples, you will know the foundation of COM programming. Two things disappointed me. One, the descriptions of his examples became less comprehensive toward the last chpaters, making it harder to grasp. Given the excellent beginning sample, I was disappointed. The thrading chapter in particular left me hanging a bit. Second, I would have liked to have seen a chapter on implementing a existing COM object, such as need for shell programming for example. Otherwise, a good book.
14 cuts through the RED TAPE
i've been reading books on COM since the past 1 year. Most of the books are initimidating for the beginer. lot of books don't explain what COM architecture is about, they market COM. But this book explains what the COM architecture is about and largely succeeds too. I'd definitely recommend it for programmers begining COM. Agreed that it does not cover all the topics in a great detail such as Connection Points & Type Libs, but hey you can always refer to another book. Dale Rogerson has done a fine job. I like the way he describes things, especially the little stories at the begining of each chapter.
15 The Perfect way to start learning COM
A very easy and useful book. The book doesn't use complex C++ or compiler specific features or MFC. You need to know only about classes and a little knowledge of Win32 programming. It also explains the COM concept and how it can be used for operating systems other than Windows. I liked chapter where the author showed in few steps how to create a remote COM object running on different machine using DCOM. This book is essential if you want to learn COM
16 Good Description but bad grammatical presentation
The book is a good one for a beginner in COM. The examples and the descriptions provided are good.
What makes reading slightly difficult, is the Grammatical mistakes in various sentences. This requires an effort by the user to rephrase and understand and then read ahead.
A little more effort than usual that is required in reading a book.
17 Good Description but bad grammatical presentation
The book is a good one for a beginner in COM. The examples and the descriptions provided are good.
What makes reading slightly difficult, is the Grammatical mistakes in various sentences. This require an effort by the user to rephrase and then understand and read ahead.
A little more effort than usual, that is required in reading a book.
18 Unbalanced
Books starts with very basic expectations of reader level and ends with 400%. ActiveX covered? Where? OLE? Author sends you for details about it to another sources. Pretty much nothing about IDL, marshalling, multi-threading (just take the things as they are). That's not a way such book should be written. Just gives you very general picture of what is COM. Remove the word "inside" from its name.
19 Good for learning fundamentals
This was my first book on COM, and it's no surprise that it has become a classic. (It probably started the whole wave of "Inside..." books.) COM takes a long time to master, and this should be one of your first stops. It's not *everything* you'll need because the technology continues to advance. There's Active Template Library, and now COM+... and it just keeps maturing.
20 A must read for every COM developer
I found this book to be well written & well organized. While having read numerous COM books, it is this book that helped me pull it all together with respect to COM. While the first half of the book is a good introduction, the second half builds on that knowledge & extends our reach into reuse, containment & aggregation & so much more. I found Chapter 10 & its detailing of component registration particularly useful for the project @ hand. Moreover, with the class factory coverage, I realized that MS's COM is nothing more that OSF's DCE adapted to Windows & that COM needs to instantiate components, marshal function calls free, locally or remotely &, from there on, beyond doing more of the same, consider threading & security issues & render them in the framework as pertinent.
21 Excellent C++ Level Introduction to the COM Basics
COM is rich in good books. It has the heavenly three (D. Chappel, D. Box, K. Brockschmidt) and now this one. It is a good alternative to Don Boxes (Mr. COM) masterpiece. It clearly explains the foundations on a C++ level and no more. You will have to turn to Brockschmidt for that. I strongly recommand this book and wish more other subjects would have books on comparable quality.
22 Best book for understanding COM, but...
This IS the best book around for understanding the mechanism behind COM, BUT, at the end of it, you will not be able to code too much of COM using the existing tools (VC++,etc). After reading this book, you need to pick up some more, in order to learn how to implement COM in real life.
23 Bad style good content
For a C++ developer wanting to understand COM all the information you need is in this one (for an even deeper look at things try Essential COM).
24 Excellent
A very good introduction and explanation to the basic principles of COM. Dale has a very good ability to explain clearly a really hard topic such as that. He also has a good sense of humor and a fine style of writing.
Either you have already tried and failed or this is the first time you are attempting to understand COM this is the book you need.
25 An Excellent Introduction To COM...
If you are new to COM or know very little about it, this is the place to start. It explores the infrastructure without overwhelming the newcomer and gives very convincing arguments about why a specific component is there and how it ended up so.
Keep in mind that one way of looking at this technology is to see it as an improvement on C++. (For this I call Don BOX to witness stand [1st chapter of 'Essential COM']) Also, don't forget that C++ is the implementation language of MFC and ATL frameworks. Hence the tendency to emphasize C++ in such technologies and (Micosoft Press) books.
If you can't stand C/C++, I suggest that you grab one of those 'Active ... with Visual Basic/ Visual J++' books. These languages make the use of some aspects much easier, e.g. garbage collection, exception handling. But then again can you claim to know an architecture without getting your hands dirty with its assembler? I guess not!
When you finish reading this book, if you think you can take more serious stuff, make sure you check out Don BOX's books: 'Essential COM' and 'Effective COM.'
26 Excellent for beginners and useful for proffessionals
In this book I found that kind information I never found reading dry technical documentations about COM. I recommend this book for professionals because it is a good book to review your knowledge and discover some new look on COM. The style is attractive and amusing. This book is very friendly for intelligent humans.
27 Learn to walk before run
This is a great book for any of you who would like to learn more about COM. This book does not introduce you to advanced COM subjects, but that was not the authors intention. After reading this book you will gain a firm understanding of COM fundemenatals which will enable you to further your knowledge in more advanced topics in COM. After this book I would suggest reading Beginning ATL COM by Wrox Publishing. As someone new to COM development I read other more advanced books before purchasing this one. Don't make the mistake I did - get this book first.
28 Be Warned
1) Know C++ 2) Know Visual C++ 3) Spend Time Reading and Re-reading 4) Prepare for mistakes in the book
This book is decent until half way. Then, the mistakes are many and gets worse as it goes. The worst part is that the examples use makefiles that you can't understand. This is okay until the examples get more complex and then the author stops explaining the projects. The author should include .dsp files, but doesn't. At least, he should explain the projects so I have a chance at building the examples later in the book. My favorite quote is on page 211 "First, we'll use C++ classes to make using COM components more like using C++ classes." My second favorite quote is on page 287 "The first three (parameters) are easily explained... The third parameter holds localization information." Dale never again mentions "localization", so I guess it was easy for him to explain.
29 It makes you a better C++ developer
This is a remarkable book for those who do not want to feel like a dummy looking at the stuff produced by a code generator (a so-called Wizard). This books explains everything, from why a C++ generated virtual table complies with COM specifications to the threading models of COM. This book will serve you best if you follow it letter by letter and develop base classes for your development according to the author. Then try to use standard ATL Wizard from VC++, compare its output to what you have learned and you will say to yourself: Ha! I know what is done and why! You will also get a feel that the author could have been the one who created the ATL Wizard. Even a complete example from this book, TANGRAM, bears the same name as a VC++ example. However unless you really have to develop very customized stuff I would recommend Wizard since it does all the work of the numerous component registrations for you and handles all compiler and linker switches. Also the book uses makefiles, so if you like IDE, you will feel slightly uncomfortable. It is also an excellent C++ tutorial on multiple inheritance and class libraries. A lot of C++ details are explained along the way. You will be a much better C++ programmer after you are done with the book
30 Don't waste your time or money
A better book would be Essential COM by Don Box. There is too much customized code which gets in the way of understanding COM.
31 Don't waste your time or money
Too much custom code. After reading the book, you'll come out with the very basics of what come does. The samples on CD are useless. I just don't recommend this book. Other books such as Essential COM & Professional ATL COM Programming are much better. No matter what, learning COM is a monumental task.
32 Ok, this is the skinny on COM...
Ok, this is the skinny on COM:
1) COM is hard
2) you will not learn COM by reading only one book
3) attempt COM in stages: read about it, use someone elses servers, write your own
servers, write your own servers in a multi-threaded environment
To learn COM you must take weeks of expensive courses or read these books in this order:
1) "Understanding ActiveX and OLE": optional; easy read but recommended
2) "Inside COM": strongly recommended; if you really appreciate "Essential COM" without reading this first you are smarter than I am
3) "Multithreading Applications in Win32": strongly recommended
4) "Essential COM": essential; once you have your COM bearings read this book, then read it again in 6 months to realize how many details you missed the first time
5) "Beginning Atl Com Programming": recommended
6) "Effective COM": optional
7) "Essential ATL": optional
8) "Inside OLE2": optional, for brave souls only
Whew! That is a lot but it all really is required. If you attempt shortcuts or read the books out of order, you risk being crushed by someone who really knows COM. Oh yeah, you must also know C++ cold, suspend your beliefs about C++ objects, and be open to the idea of distributed components. Good luck!
33 Good writing style, good detailed content, but only C++
I think this is a very good book. Although I noticed someone else complained about the authors anecdotal style, I find it helps keep my attention through what could be incredibly tedious technical details. By writing this way I think he has been able to include a great deal of detail without putting everyone to sleep, which is good, IMHO. An example (while talking about reference counting): "It is far too easy for another programmer...to screw up the lifetimes and break the optimized reference counts."
The warning that isn't made clear enough, however, is that this is really only a C++ book. If C++ isn't the language you plan to use, I would not recommend this book (and the fine print on the back cover does say this book is for "intermediate to advanced C++ programmers").
34 Awsome book, A must read to understand COM
I have found this book very interesting to read, and a full of resource to understand the complex issues of COM. The book also explains awsomely the issues like dlls, concept of registry, GUID etc,that are essential for writing COM. A must read for any one who wants to understand the COM with a good sense of humour.
35 Chapter 10 is the worst
The author stuffs everything in a dir and provides readers a make file without much comments, which makes readers stay inside COM but do not know where to go!
36 Excellent book on COM fundamentals
This is an excellent book for those who want to understand how COM works. The book is written in logical order with plenty of examples and in good humor. I would recomend this book to anyone who wants to grasp COM fundamentals and don't yawn while at it.
37 A great way to begin the process of learning COM
Rogerson uses many great analogies to bring the technical subject of component programming down to a level where it can be digested quickly and well understood!
38 Give you some good foundation of writing COM in C++
This book presents what COM is, gives good basic COM programming from a C++ coding perspective. If you don't know C++, do not buy the book. It is not a practical book. It just takes too much time to write COM this way. After you know the basic of COM, you will need other book(s) to do the actual COM development...and then this Inside COM probably stays inside the shelf forever. And some years later, you probably think of this book as the COM appreciation book.
For the amount of information it provides, this book is over price.
39 the MUMBO JUMBO approach ...
The author is obviously confused with the genre of technical writing. There are so many detailed descriptions of irrelevant personal experiences, stories, etc. that they're very annoying when you try to find the INFORMATION. Mr. Rogerson should have tried writing novels instead.
40 Good start for Com developes
This great book gave me a very deep and broad approach to COM development using VC++ 5.0 I can recommend this book to anyone who wants to know the COM/ActiveX concept from the foundations.
41 Interesting reading on a complex subject.
Each chapter starts with a story or allegory that somehow relates to the ideas of the chapter. I thought this was a unique and greatly helpful way to keep my interest in the book. It helped me understand the abstract theories involved in COM. This was an excellent guide for solving the problems I was having creating an ATL control in ActiveX. Every time I had a problem, this book provided an answer. The examples were complex, but explained well. They were an exact match to the problems I was trying to solve. Rogerson has created a masterful work that you will never regret buying.
42 A good book for COM beginers
It's a good book to start COM. The approach of the book is good and it starts from basic concepts to finer details. However in many solved examples the header files are missing !! for example in Chapter 4 many programs use "create.h" but this file is not defined anywhere.
43 good book, but need samples
This is a good book to start learning COM. But I found the last sample program--Tangram did not compile because of missing header files. I tried to generate .h files from idl using midl but I still can not get model_c.h that was needed in mainfrm.cpp. Anyone know how to get it?
44 Lets you know
Till today I didn't know what exactly is COM, Interface, OLE etc. But first chapter itself explained me about COM in very simple way.
45 Good luck finding a better intro book
This book is about as good as they come. Dale Rogerson should be commended. I've been in this field longer than most and can safely say this is one of the best intro books I've ever read. Clear, concise and straight to the point. No bloated examples that run for 200 pages. Just tiny and very simple snippets of code demonstrating the precise mechanics of how to develop a COM object from scratch. Target audience is C/C++ developers with a Microsoft compiler background though others will benefit as well. Don't listen to the naysayers on this one. This book is terrific.
46 #1 COM book
This is the best book on COM. It teaches you what is COM and how to use it. Essential COM only tells you what is COM, but does NOT tell you how to use it. If you really need to use COM, go to this book. If you are not interested in what is under the hood, you may only need VB COM. But as a professional COM programmer, you got know what's going on inside. One reminder is that you need to have C++ knowledge. But that's the way it is. Buy this book and read it a couple of times. You would eventually understand what is COM.
47 Great Introduction to COM
After skimming through four other books on COM and ActiveX, I found Inside COM to be the most clear and concise of all the books that I read.
It provides a good high-level overview of COM and avoids a lot of the nasty details until later...
A great first book on COM.
48 A great book on a complex subject
I have to say that i was quite impressed by the content of this book. I started with David Chappell's book on COM and ActiveX and this took me a bit deeper into this somewhat complex subject. I would recommend it to anyone. One caveat - you must at least understand the basics of C++ to get any serious value from it as this is the authors language of choice. Nice book, though
49 A great book on a complex subject
I have to say that i was quite impressed by the content of this book. I started with David Chappell's book on COM and ActiveX and this took me a bit deeper into this somewhat complex subject. I would recommend it to anyone. One caveat - you must at least understand the basics of C++ to get any serious value from it as this is the authors language of choice. Nice book, though
50 Decent book, could use more real world examples
Aside from a bad sense of humor, this book does provide some good information. It has been very helpful in introducing the concepts of COM. The author could have explained things more clearly by using real world examples as opposed to the IY and IZ examples. I would recommend this book for people familiar with C++ and are wanting to learn COM.
51 Great Book. A classic introduction to COM
Inside COM is a clear, concise introduction to COM programming through C++. The author starts with a simple non-COM example, and evolves it into a full-fledge COM component, explaining along the way how COM solves various software problems.
This is the best introduction to COM programming I've read. It's better written and more focused than COM/DCOM Primer Plus by Corry, Mayfield, and Cadman, and it's a smoother introduction to COM than Beginning ATL COM Programming by Grimes, et al.
I was able to start doing some simple COM development shortly after reading the book. If your not interested in C++ COM development, or already have experience with COM development, this text will probably not offer you much. However, this book is perfect for programmers new to COM (and even new to C++).
52 Go For It
Wonderful book that digs into the detalis in a very easy and smooth way
53 Great book
This book is very easy to follow. I've heard that COM is a very hard subject to learn, however, this book illustrates COM in a very understandable manner. I would recommand it to anyone who are familiar with C++. But if you are a beginner c++ programmer, I don't think you will be able to understand very well. all in all, great book with good details.
54 THE book to learn COM
This book is fun to read and very, very clear. Not for somebody who already knows COM well, but perfect for the beginner. I'd recommend "Essential COM" as a second book, but go for this one first.
55 Great book!
Frenkly, I just can't understand how someone found this book unsatisfying. Inside COM is a great book, which explains COM (and some DCOM and ActiveX) in the most in-depth and interesting way. The author is also a very good writer and managed to make a technical computer book a fun book to read that made me laugh over and over again. And again: great book!
56 Congratulation Mr. Rogerson. Write more! Please!
My hat is off to Rogerson on this one. After searching endlessly it seemed for a good solid intro to COM I finally found one. I was getting lost by several other texts and finding only pieces of the puzzle with snippets and articles (praise to Dr. GUI) and I needed to something to help me assemble it all and give me a solid intro to this very complex topic. This is the book. Barely into chapter 3 and I can tell you not only does this book give you a very solid intro but leaves nothing out... including many of the why's and how's. I agree with the statement "the beginning is EVERYTHING in COM". When you are ready for more, get essential COM. But for starters, I have yet to find a more solid book; and I've looked around.
57 An excellent introduction to COM.
COM is an incredbily complex technology, so difficult to comprehend that its concepts are only understood by a relative few. This book does everything possible to simplify and explain COM, step by step. While this book *may* not give you that real-world insight you might have hoped for, it gives you that ever-so-necessary first step. And in COM, the first step is EVERYTHING. Thank goodness this book exists, I have yet to find any book so well suited for introducing a programmer to COM.
58 Terrible
The terrible bum-rush style of this book leaves the reader dazed, confused and feeling cheated. Don't buy this book!
59 Big disappointment
Inside OLE was a classic. This book was awful. It was an embarrassment to the Inside XXX series. I don't think this book taught me a thing.
60 Too many words, too little content
There are about 100 pages worth of content in the book. The rest is annoying filler, stories, and what appears to be padding to make the book fatter on the shelf. If you think spending $30 for 100 pages on COM is a good deal, buy it. Otherwise, look for something else (not Beginning ATL COM Programming, please!)
61 Wordy, unclear, good concepts, weak details
Gave me a good basic understanding of what COM is, but did not help me AT ALL in understanding how to use or create COM objects.
1) I didn't like the wordy, conversational style. I would prefer more step-by-step procedure lists and section summaries.
2) The distinction between "using a COM object" and "creating a COM object" was unclear. Rogerson kept shifting the focus between these two activities, sometimes in the same sentence.
3) His sample code was incomplete, forcing you to go to the disk. I'd prefer complete in-context code samples.
I think the book could have delivered more useful information in half the size. If you like verbose reference materials, this is probably a great book. For me it was not helpful.
62 For C++ programmers only
A warning (which, in due fairness is on the cover of the book): This book is written for C++ programmers only. Although the COM interface is language-independant, one must know C++ code and nomenclature thoroughly to be able to navigate the examples and text. The author's contempt of other programming languages, particlularly Visual Basic, comes through fairly clearly when they are discussed (really only one chapter). If you want a book that shows how to implement low-level COM from another language and don't know C++, you may want to look elsewhere.
63 Helped me learn how to use COM in 1 week
I was not sure if I would ever master COM, but this book led me all the way. From the basics to actually using existing COM objects, it took me 1 week only. This book has less detail than Essential COM, which is helpful for the beginner. I fully recommend it for every C++ programmer who has to learn COM from scratch.
64 The best available in market.
Yes, this IS the best book I could find in the market about COM. Dale Rogerson comes straight to the point, explains the fundamentals in clear & concise manner, and keeps irrelevant details aside (unlike Don Box in "Essential COM", who talks more about the his "personal COM enlightenment", his "hair style", his "awe" of "extremely complex subject of COM", etc.). Dale Rogerson has made this subject very clear, simple & interesting.
65 A great book for COM
This book use very plain language to explain most complicated subject. It is well organized and easy to read. A good start to OLE and ActiveX
66 A Must Have/Read
This is a very well organized and exteremly useful book. If you are dealing with COM objects at any level you will benefit from it. Covers all aspect of COM nicely with a very clear and practical approach.
67 The best for learning COM - no use of proprietary libraries
This book explains the theory and implementation of COM objects very well. I find it refreshing to find a book like that that doesn't throw a lot of application framework baggage (read: MFC) at you to get the job done right.
68 A good book for beginners
The book is definitely a starting point for the beginners. Covers the basic architecture to a good extent, explains registry details to a large extent for inproc as well as Local server. But, it should have covered more details of writing the idl file for the developers who prefers to write every component detail on their own.
On the whole, good book for beginners.
69 Great for understanding what COM is.
This book is great for COM beginners. At last I understand what COM is and what it's good for. The stuff I learnt from this book has already greatly improved my own projects and allowed others to use my components.
70 Very good
This book is excellent overview of COM. It has very clear explanation on major issues of COM, although not very detailed. For me it has additional value, as a dictionary to COM, you can use it as a reference in technical language.
71 Pretty decent, hard to follow at times though
I actually would've given this book 3 1/2 stars had it let me. As everyone has mentioned, the book is really good at explaining the fundamentals. I didn't like the examples very much though. When I read a book I REALLY study the book. I like to type in ALL the code for EVERY sample. I find I learn them better and understand the example programs much better if I actually type them in myself. If you don't type them in it is all too easy to just glance at them and say "Ok, it works. Cool." and flip the page. In this book he'll give the listing of maybe one file for each sample and the rest are on the CD. I don't like that. I like to be able to have the entire listing for every program right there in front of me in print. And once you get to chapter 8 on Aggregation and Containment it becomes almost necessary. But that's just me.
72 This is THE book for understanding COM conscepts
Before this I read "OLE Controls Inside Out" and tried to read "Inside OLE". Although I understood the words, I never really GOT it. This book connected, and I am now using ATL to write COM objects. I don't really want to go back to non-COM programming. Buy this book!
73 Really a useful book
It's really a good introduction to the COM. This books covers most of the things that you need in order to begin and write your own programms. You could find some jokes and analogies from non-computer fields that can help to understand the subject.
74 A good introduction
Explains the basics well enough, though it tends to be annoyingly verbose at times. Could be cut down to a nice 200 page introduction to COM if only Dale won't talk about firefighters... Overall, Dale's book does a whole lot better than some of the other COM/DCOM related titles from Wrox press which swamp you with totally irrelevant and unnecessary details from page one.
75 Great book, but it can be made better
I've rated the book with only four stars, because for me the book has not enough diagrams how the COM/DCOM-Server can work together. And then it tells only a few about the limitations from COM, so for example that you have always a synchronized communication. But for this the source from the book gives the solution, too. The example code is very good and you can reuse it for your own programs well. But why have the author build this sources not with regular makefiles for client, proxy and server? He choses to build up one Makefile which you must scratch to build up code for debugging. This takes me a longer time when I build up my first COM-Server. But after all THIS is the standard book to start with for every engaged COM-programmer.
76 This is really...REALLY dry.
I found it tough enough to read and I didn't think to much of the examples but it'll make a good reference. Best COM example I could find is the "Spaceship" thing in Inside VC++ 5. Unfortunately, Inside VC++ just scratches the surface of COM...so what can you do? Buy them both.
77 Good fundamentals but insufficient examples
Like other reviewers, I found the book excellent at explaining the fundamentals. Where it falls short is in providing meaningful examples. Most of the book is spent implementing three tiny, do-nothing interfaces. Then, in the last chapter he gives a full blown application that is supposed to bring it all together. With quite a bit of study, it is possible to go from this example to a component-based program of our own. It would be a lot easier if there were more meaningful examples of proposed solutions to make the concepts more concrete. For example, in the chapter on IDispatch and dual interfaces, Rogerson suggests that C++ programmers should provide a low level interface _and_ a dual interface that makes use of the low level interface. He seems to imply that this should be done through aggregation or containment. Since dual interfaces are so common, a nice example would have been useful. I'm still waiting for a good book on practical applications of components, akin to Professional Visual Basic 5 Business Objects, only in C++, possibly even ATL.
78 One of the best books on programming
Inside COM is one of the best books on programming I have ever read. Even for those people who will not use COM in the near future it is still a good book. The important thing is you know what a software will look like in the future. I recommend this book to everyone.
79 Excellent!
In terms of COM and just on COM alone, there are only 2 good books available. One is "Essential COM" by Don Box, and other other is this book by Dale. Dale's topics and the presentation are exceptionally clear, logical and enticing to read over and over again. If I were to share with my colleaque on COM, this will be the first book.
80 Inside COM - Great Book
This is a great book for those interested in what COM is. I highly recommend it as an introductory book. Note that this book requires a good understanding of C++ and OO.
81 A easy way to understand of COM
If you want to know COM and don't have time to eat Inside OLE, buy it. I did not understand COM well till met it. It tells COM step by step and in a easy way to understand. It'll pay you itselft.
82 The "START" button to COM beginners
Simply written, easy sample codes, full covering COM technology... it takes you far away !!
83 Invaluable resource to add to your collection
This book takes you step-by-step in understanding the intrinsics of COM. Little C++ experience is required to fully grasp Microsoft's new bleeding edge technology. It's the Kernighan and Ritchie for COM.
84 The best book ever published on any computer topic.
I have never come across the best book on any topic in my whole career spaning 8 years in computing. I can say this is the best book. Here the author Dale Rogerson explained COM in detail and presented it in the book neatly. Most of the computer books normally tell about the packages and how install them and blah blah... or technology in their first two or three chapters, so reader normally gets bored and ultimately loses interest in reading that book.
This is not like those. Here the presentation is something different, going directly into subject.
85 Best Introduction For Programming with COM
I've read "Inside OLE 2" by Kraig Brockschmidth and was slammed by the shere size (~1000 pages) of that book. The only thing I was looking for was a brief introduction to COM, not the all encompassing OLE! Finally I found "Inside COM" by Dale Rogerson and was thrilled: Why wasn't this book published earlier? This would have been a great time-safer! I haven't seen another explanation of core COM, that is that easy to understand and applied than Dale's book. "Inside COM" offers a lot of insights, and using a step-by-step approach, you come to the point, where you ask: Why haven't I used COM all the time? Bottom-line: This book is a must have for all developers, who are serious about COM!
86 The best introduction to COM
An approachable and unpretentious introduction to COM. I hope more books address a subject as directly and simply.
87 Excellent introduction for Microsoft'sComponent Object Model
By far the best book I've read on COM to date. Make it easy to learn and use. The examples are good and can be used to build your own components on. This book is a much better start for learning this technology than Inside OLE (good book, but confusing if you haven't read this one). A definite book to have in your collection if you're a Windows programmer.
88 The best way to learn abbout COM
This book is destined to become the standard on COM. It's a far better read than Brockschmidt's Inside OLE. This book addresses COM from the ground up so any C or C++ programmer can get started very easily. I highly recommend this book
89 Inside COM offers a detail view of the COM architecture
If you're an engineer that has been, or will be, creating ActiveX controls but you don't know how COM works, this is the book for you. Even though MFC and Microsoft's compiler hide most of the COM functionality when you create ActiveX controls, responsible engineers will want to know what is happening. Inside COM gives you a working knowledge of the COM architecture that will give you inside for component designs. Throughout the course of the book, Rogerson uses real world examples and concise instructions for understanding the COM process for any language, although all of the examples use C++. Upon completing this volume, I now have an excellent understand of COM and DCOM as a software engineer and architect. I do recommend that readers interested in Inside COM have a strong knowledge of C++, the Windows SDKs, and object oriented design
90 Pretty nice presentation of COM .. easy to read.
The book is really simple to understand and it covers a lot of stuff about COM. It's a great book to start off if you are planning to work on OLE or ActiveX. For those already working with COM, the book is good as a refreshner and to get to know why things are being done the way they are.
This book came as divine help for all those innumerable programmers who prayed God after reading (or tried to read) the 1200 page "Inside OLE 2.0".
91 Well written foundation for other Microsoft technologies
This book is an excellent first-read for anyone getting ready to tackle an advanced programming project using Microsoft's advanced system architectures. OLE, MAPI, ActiveX are all much easier to understand and the overall 'big picture' is clearer after reading this book
92 Excellent programmer introduction to COM
This is the best book for programmer's that are new to COM. Unlike Inside OLE by Brockschmidt, it focuses on COM as a mechanism. Inside OLE, on the other hand, focus mostly on various interfaces implemented by COM. I wish this book would have come out about 2 years ago when I first started looking at COM
93 A painless introduction to COM development
A great introduction to COM development for C++.
Simple examples, uncluttered, and to the point makes
this book one of the best "How To Do" books I've read.
Loaded with source code and utilities to assist in
developing applications.
This book surely needs a Part 2 covering DCOM,
advanced interface designing, IPersitStream information,
etc.
Would like to see more books written like this
