Developer's Workshop to Com and ATL 3.0 [With CDROM]

by Andrew Troelsen

Microsoft's Component Object Model is one of the most important concepts in software development today. Developer's Workshop to COM and ATL 3.0 provides an in-depth treatment of COM and shows how to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1556227043
• ISBN13: 9781556227042
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Jones & Bartlett Publishers
• Length: 697 Pages
• Weight: 3.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 7.5" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Get this book if you want to learn COM/ATL

I've had the [mis]fortune to have bought or read over almost every COM and ATL book out there, and have been disappointed time and again. What usually happens is that the explanations are simply too thin for the meaty subject matter of COM and ATL. A typical problem is that macros are referred to without explanation, talk about BSTRings and smart pointers fly left and right, all with the assumption that the reader must have a built-in familiarity with the subjects. Not to hammer these other authors, since the subject is quite difficult to get a grasp on and explain, but I'd just about given up on finding a cogent explanation on COM and ATL which I could use.Then I came across this book and Tom Armstrong's "ATL Developer's Guide". They're the only two books I can reccomend for any COM/ATL beginner. Personally, I feel this book is the better of the two, as the lab discussions and explanations Mr. Troelsen provides really help walk the reader through some difficult parts. It's a good read, and about subjects on which he could have easily lost the reader. Quite the balancing act.If you're starting out in COM and ATL, you'll certainly want this book. I'd also reccomend "ATL Developer's Guide" as a sort of second-reference, because it's also a good one. If you've only budgeted for one however, this is the keeper.

I highly recommend this book!

I've been programming professionally for the last two years. While I have worked with COM before it has mainly been through VB. That has always bothered me because my main language is C++. Unfortunately, implementing solutions in C++ that require COM can be time consuming. Enter ATL. ATL makes COM development a snap but it can be a complex beast in it's own rite. Many of ATL's features are hidden behind complex templates and macros which facilitate rapid application development. Learning ATL is a breeze thanks to the Wizards but *understanding* what it does, how it does it, and why it does it is a different matter.Enter COM and ATL 3.0.This book provides answers to the most common questions that a developer learning ATL might ask. I absolutely love the side-by-side comparisons; raw C++ COM and ATL COM. This theme is carried through out the book. I cannot begin to offer enough praise for this method of teaching. It gives the developer a solid foundation in the 'nitty-gritty' of writing COM using raw C++. After demonstrating the 'raw' approach, the ATL method is examined. By having the fore-knowledge of the 'raw' method the reader can appreciate the ATL approach and better understand it. This book is also packed with an indepth examination of ATLs inner workings. The authour displays a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of what he is discussing - a rare quality among technical authours lately.For those developers out there who are like me and want to understand the *WHY* and not just the *HOW* this book is for you.

Simply the best COM/ATL book out there

The book is not perfect. I did run across a few mistakes; I had some trouble with a couple of the examples. But this book is far and away the best tutorial on COM and ATL that is out there. It is more than a simplistic introduction. The author starts with simple concepts, usually in straight C++, and progresses in a very logical sequence to an intermediate level using ATL. Many subtleties are covered but in context of the overall presentation. There is none of this inexplicable, out of context pandering to fellow COM gurus that seems to motivate so many software authors.This book is easily superior to "Beginning ATL 3 COM," "COM+ From the Ground Up," and "Creating Lightweight Components." The other ATL book that is good is "Active Template Library," but this book is better and more recent. For example, it does a far better job of explaining ATL internals. Amazingly, the explanations of ATL are in many ways superior to a book on the market that purports to be solely an ATL internals book. Of course, the difference is that one author can write, the other cannot.In any event I do not hesitate in declaring this book at this time to be the one book that is best at explaining and conducting a thoroughgoing learning session in COM and ATL. I applaud the author for rising above the mediocrity that so typifies programming books.

Excellent foundation for COM / ATL

An excellent book for beginning COM developers. Readers of this book should be already experienced in C / C++ development, but no prior COM knowledge is necessary. The text is well-written and follows a clear, logical sequence from the simple to the complex. By the time a reader reaches the conclusion of this book, he or she will have an excellent base for COM / ATL development.The only downside I found was that the examples were sometimes not completely correct. These generally tended to be very minor issues, such as indentation, or not initializing variables before use, etc. None of these types of errors detracted, however, from the lesson the examples were supposed to convey.I'd call this book a Must Have, and well worth its price.

Great book for hands-on ATL

If you have read Don Box's Essential COM, which is a great book covering COM theory, Andrew Troelsen's book will be perfect for you to get your hands wet on COM using ATL. I have personally waited a long time for this book. All the Wrox books on this subject have failed to deliver! Andrew presents ATL in an extremely logical manner. In Each chapter he always starts implementing COM with plain C++ code and then teaches you how ATL makes life easier for you by hidding all the boiler plate code in the template. You can tell that the author has spent a lot of time dissecting and understanding ATL. It seems to me that some of the Wrox authors were rushing things and finally gave us only half-cooked meal. In my opinion, the time you will be saved from reading the ATL code yourself is well worth the money. Besides, The lab in this book makes you feel like sitting in a training class and this will save you or your company a few thousand bucks.I also learned some useful VC++ IDE tips in this book.