Understanding ActiveX and OLE: A Guide for Developers and Managers

by David Chappell and David Chappell

David Chappell, the author of professional courses and articles on Microsoft OLE and the Common Object Model (COM), introduces readers to OLE's importance and strategic significance. He delves into... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1572312165
• ISBN13: 9781572312166
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A great high level view of COM/DCOM

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 gave me a great intro to COM

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.

Excellent book

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.

Astonishing...

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.

Useful "top down" view of COM / OLE technology

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.