Hi.

I read Inside COM by Dale Rogerson. I did not buy the book because it was out of print. I borrowed it from school library. It was an exception book for understanding COM architecture.

Now I am in a situation where I am not sure the best direction. COM design and implementation is an involved process not even mentioning COM+ and DCOM. COM concept is conceivable, it is just the implementation that takes some time. For example, in Inside COM, the author mentions Microsoft IDL and how to code in IDL to interpret C++ code for languages including VB. As you can see, COM design and especially implemention is quite involved.

I have read many reviews on Developer's Workshop to COM and ATL 3.0 by Andrew Troelsen at Amazon and most recommend this book for "immediate" COM design and implemention via ATL.

- How significant is ATL in terms of simplying COM implemention, i.e. precompiled IDL, IDL wizards, etc.?

- What is the future of ATL?

I could go buy a used copy of Inside COM and begin designing and implementing COM components now; however, I would like to know how much simplier and quicker does ATL makes COM implementions?

Is ATL to COM as MFC to Windows programming?

Thanks,
Kuphryn