Inside ATL [With Contains Sample Code, Sample Controls & Components]

Excellent book for readers yearning a stronger understanding of ATL and COM. The auther does a concise job of explaining some of the more difficult or less well understood aspects of COM - APARTMENTS and THREADS.Apartments and threads, in most other COM books are often inadequete and rushed - not this book. The level of detail to apartments and threads can easily make this book worth buying all together, not to say, that the rest of the book isn't worth reading because it is.Although, they did a wonderful job of explaining threads and apartments this book isn't without its challenges. For example, to understand many of the code samples you must have some Windows 32 programming experience or be familiar with some of the Win32 API calls and libraries. Make sure you have a Windows 32 programming book as reference (e.g. Advanced Windows by Jeffrey Richter). Furthermore, I can understand how some readers may be intimidated by this book because they might not be as comfortable working with C++, templates, macros and the Win32 API...typical in most hardcore COM books I have read. However, don't let that stop you from reading this book. Just make sure that you purchase the necessary reference books to bring yourself up to speed.So, if you want to understand the internals of "ATL" and "COM", do yourself a favor and buy this book. It should have an excellent shelf life, unlike some of the other COM books I've purchased, such as "Beginning ATL COM" from Wrox (save your money on this book).Over the years I've come to rely upon a few trusted books on COM and Win32 programming and have provided them below:COM:- Essential COM by Don Box (COM primer)- Inside COM by Dale Rogerson (COM primer)WIN 32 PROGRAMMING:- Advanced Windows by Jeffrey Richter (good advanced topics...threading, kernal, locking)- Programming Windows by Charles Petzold (good all-around ref.)- Learn Windows Programming in 21 days (excellent primer!)

ATL is fairly complex and this book tries to cover it from the very beginning. There's chapters on COM and even C++ templates here. Not sure if they're necessary for everyone, but they do fill out the story. I think the rest of the book tries to map ATL to raw COM.

I found that the best way to grasp ATL is to understand COM in the first place. This book covers a lot about the basics of COM and does a pretty good job of mapping how COM maps to ATL. I did find some holes, but was able to fill them using Rector and Sell's book "ATL Internals". Definitely check that book out, too.

This book is written in a style that is enjoyable and very easy to follow. It contains alot of practicle information for developers building ActiveX controls. The Scribble sample in the Writing Applications with ATL chapter is also very good.

This book is good for someone looking at ATL and wondering - how do I begin with all of this? What is this useful for?Advanced developers may be looking for more, but beginner to intermediate developers should find plenty of useful material to draw from.A good buy... Should become the "C++ Primer" for ATL.