Customer Reviews

Understanding ActiveX and OLE: A Guide for Developers and Managers (Strategic Technology)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One thing is clear: no matter what they said, the authors of other com/activex related books didn't want you to understand these topics. Read this book thoroughly first before you take a deep breathe and go through the wrong statements and rubbish codes from other books. Besides, when you finish this book, you will find it is worth at least 10 times more than its price.

This is an excellent book that no programmer should ever go without. Read at least 3 times, and then buy Dale Rogerson and Don Box. EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT introduction to Microsoft's technologies that implement their vision of a document centric system. Microsoft does nothing anymore without using COM/ActiveX/OLE. You must learn this technology if you trully want to become a real hardcore programmer. So what are you waiting for.

I bought this book knowing absolutely nothing about COM/DCOM. This book does a good job of orientating you to the world of COM. In the process it does a pretty good job of explaining object-oriented programming. The only remotely bad thing I can say about this book is that it shows some favortism towards C++ (too many C++ references and not enough Java/J++ and/or Visual Basic). otherwise this is a great book for gaining understanding about COM/DCOM.

I found this a useful book. I've been working with OLE for about a year now and what this book does is tie together the disparate pieces of the technology from the top down, explaining the technology conceptually and also letting the reader in on some of the quirkier aspects of COM. For instance, as a C++ developer, I often wondered about the why behind IDispatch. IDispatch becomes much more reasonable when you see it, as Chappell points out, from the viewpoint of a VB programmer. The one criticism of the book I have is that I don't think it lives up to the claim subtitled on its cover - "A guide for developers and managers." While this is a good book for developers (including project leads), it's still too technically detailed for most managers. Still all in all . . . a good read. Very recommended.

This is one of my favorite books. This book gave me an excellent understanding of COM architecture. It's concise and has just the right amount of info. If you are looking for a ready made set of code sample to cut & paste in your project or if you are more interested about 'how' than 'why' of COM then this book is not for you. I have recommended this book and also lent my copy to many. I couldn't keep the book down. An excellent read. David Chappell has done a great job!

*If you want to establish a good foundation first, I recommend reading this book before reading other COM books (and getting confused^_^). *This book is very easy to understand and enjoyable to read. However, it is just an introduction, and only contains some snippets. I strongly recommend "Inside COM" for further study. *DON'T read "Essential COM" unless you have finished "Inside COM".

When I purchased this book, I had no clue what COM/DCOM was, besides maybe what the initials meant. This book did a nice job of easing one's understanding into COM. I think this a great book whether you are a project manager just trying to get a clue, an experienced programmer trying something different, or a newbie. This book is a solid high-level beginning for learning COM. If you want to have a better understanding of COM, buy this book. If you want to learn how to code COM components look for a good VB, C++, or Java book.

This book is a deep survey of COM within 300 clearly written pages, and many many pictures and schemes. If you are looking for code examples etc. it is NOT FOR YOU. But if you want to understand what is COM, what are COM related technologies; if you are looking for best introduction, it has no rival.

This is an all around good book. However you will not be able to produce any code after reading it. It will give you an introduction to COM, OLE, and ActiveX technologies. You will especially not be able to use the OLE interfaces after reading this book, you will just have an idea of what they are. Buy it, I recommend it, just know what you will gain from it.

Fantastic!!!, i'm studying for my MCSD exam (old track) and am using this book for the COM portion of the exam. The author explains what COM is all about is a wonderfully lucid manner.

If only Bruce Prendergast (Windows architecture I & II) could write like this.