Essential COM (Paperback)

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The Component Object Model (COM) is deep and extremely difficult, making it impossible to grasp the ideas behind this specification quickly or easily. Don Box, the author of Essential COM concedes that it took him six months of reading documentation, writing programs, and experiencing general puzzlement before he had his personal COM epiphany. Nonetheless, if you're a C++ programmer and you want your skills to continue to be relevant in a PC market dominated by Windows 95 and Windows NT, you need to get going down the path toward your own COM enlightenment. COM is the tool of choice for creating distributed and concurrent systems for modern Microsoft operating systems. If there's a book that will help you get a handle on the COM phenomenon, Essential COM is it.

Endorsed by object-orientation guru Grady Booch and Microsoft COM expert Charlie Kindel, Box's book takes the reader from an elucidating discussion of why a demand exists for COM and how it fits into the progression of C++ technology to a cool exhibition of some COM programs he's written. Along the way, Box covers the four corners of COM interfaces, classes, apartments, and security--all explained in developer's detail. He also gives attention to access control, marshaling, and Distributed COM (DCOM). Essential COM isn't an application programming interface (API) reference; it is an exploration of the Tao of COM. As the author says in his preface, you will figure out the how of COM programming quickly, as soon as you grasp the why.

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Starting from the progressive definition of an informal set of requirements for modular software architectures, the first chapter of Essential COM highlights how, by itself, the C++ language is not capable of satisfying many of them, even when associated with DLLs. Several possible design alternatives are then evaluated, and the final decision leads to the rough engineering of COM. This is perhaps the most vaporware-free introduction to the subject I have ever read because it explains through facts and not conjecture how and why the C++ object model maps well to COM... As the book proceeds, more and more room is given to complex technical issues and useful (while not trivial) COM programming idioms, such as tear-off interfaces for saving memory as the number of interfaces climbs significantly but not all of them happen to be constantly in use. In all cases the solutions make use of only the raw COM API and interfaces at the C++ level. Neither the theory, nor any of the numerous code snippets sprinkled throughout in the book, mention high-level frameworks such as ATL or MFC. The dissertation on multithreading issues and marshaling are very detailed and betray the vast experience of the author in the implementation of nontrivial COM systems. --Davide Marcato, Dr. Dobb's Journal -- Dr. Dobb's Journal

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201634465
• ISBN-13: 978-0201634464
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #195,774 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I was disappointed :-(, August 8, 2000

By	Yaron Elhadif (Israel) - See all my reviews

The book is a collection of technical notes and not a learning book. The author tries to show every little detail but forget about explaining the global idea behind it. There is no connection between parts and there is no writing technique that leads you into understanding. I got the feeling the author was more busy of showing how much he knows and less about trying to explain things to the reader. This book is "nice to have" but only after someone else show you the meaning of COM.

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The author is a COM master, but at times that is a problem., September 30, 1998

By	J. Grattan "book reviewer" (Lawrenceville, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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Obviously, Don Box is a COM and C++ master, which is where the problem lies. Admittedly, he does cover many aspects of COM quite extensively. The first chapter is the best background material on COM that I have read. But thereafter, Box changes his approach. He then seems to lapse into gratuitous, uncontollable programming razzle-dazzle when covering COM topics. His multi-page macros are just plain confusing and distracting. [Who is his intended audience: COM neophytes or his COM cronies?] His explanations concerning his use of the subtleties of C++ are entirely too feeble. While COM is at heart a subtle C++ application, surely programming virtuosity can be de-emphasized when explaining COM basics. His examples have questionable utility. However, again, his book does fill in some of the gaps of COM that other books gloss over. But I'm still waiting for that five-star book on COM.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars this book really is overcredited, May 24, 1999

By A Customer

Yes, the book gets its job done. Once you are done reading this book, you will know COM quite well. However, this really is not for beginners. Unless you have a good idea on how COM works, you will be lost. I have read "Inside COM" before reading this book, and I was still somewhat lost(its that confusing). If you know how COM works, this book will lead you to more technical background and help you truly understand how COM works, but, things are not clearly written. The author expects you know COM quite well.