Professional COM Applications with ATL

Rating:
Summary: Middle of the road...
Review: As someone with a basic knowledge of COM (gained through VB, VJ++ and MTS) this book cleared up several nagging questions that I had about low level COM and COM terminology. It also got me started with ATL. However, I found that the book suffered from being both too detailed and too selective. When the authors tackled a topic they tackled it in excruciating detail. Unfortunatley the topics where chosen from too many different subject areas resulting in incomplete coverage of any one subject area. In the end I felt that I learned a lot about certain topics but I hadn't learned enough core ATL to build a real application. The back cover states that "no prior knowledge of COM or ATL is assumed, as the book gives a full tutorial on both." It is true that this book begins with the very basics of COM and ATL but the coverage is by no means 'full'. After about 300 pages I made a list of all of the _basic_ things that I thought I would need to know to work with ATL on a daily basis. This list was based on my experience with VB, Java, C++, and OO in general. At the 300 page mark this book had covered between 1/4 and 1/3 of my list. I just didn't get what I needed from this book fast enough.

Rating:
Summary: Good book condition. Thnak you.
Review: Good book condition. Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for someone with COM Experience
Review: I read this bood as an introduction to COM. The back of the book says that anyone with a strong understanding of programming and C++ can learn COM from this book. The first two chapters were good, but in chapter three the author went into developing a COM application. For someone with no COM experience it was too much of a jump. I stopped reading the book about half way through chapter three and read Inside COM. It was a great introduction. I then went back to this book and found it to be a very good tutorial on using ATL, MTS and MSMQ in developing and using ActiveX and OLEDB COM applications. The As these are all very important things to know, I highly recommend the book; however, only after one receives a thorough introduction to COM elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Request
Review: I read this book & recalled the Charles Petzold days. Let me tell you I am not reminiscent of those days. However, their introduction reminded me of Petzold's Programming Windows 3.0 book. That's how antiquated I believe the introduction to be. The same holds true for the remainder of the book & its coverage. The only good thing I can say about this book is the fact that it mentions classes such as CComBSTR. When transitioning from MFC to ATL, MFC die-hards try to make a strong argument in favor of MFC with CString. Besides the fact that MFC can be contained in ATL @ the expense of code dependence & a larger memory footprint, CComBSTR allows for a counter offensive. @ any rate, @ one point, the author himself considers getting back on track so as to avoid having the reader throw the book away. I must confess, a short while after, I did just that! I believe, your time is better spent elsewhere...

Rating:
Summary: Certainly not a "Professional" book
Review: It is a excellent book, the thread modeling/apartment discussion in Chapter 2 is unique, and already worth the price. I found the rest of the book also well orginazed, it is a real practical book for writing COM applications.