Rating: 
Summary: A broad survey of components for the VB developer
Review: This is a well written and logical survey of COM from a VB perspective. With only 371 pages of text, it attempts to tackle a broad subject area. The level of complexity is comparable to what is expected in the VB Distributed exam (70-175), for which it is an excellent study adjunct.I enjoyed reading it from end to end, and keep it as a reference for certain developer skills that I use infrequently. While I consider the book to be aimed at a "beginner" in COM, beginners in COM are at least intermediate level VB developers. The moniker on the cover, "for enterprise developers", is a little misleading, since serious enterprise VB developers will need more detail than is provided. However, in creating a survey aimed at broadening one's understanding of all of Microsoft's COM technologies, the Eddons are successful. Weaknesses: The book is far too brief for so broad a subject matter. For example, a single chapter on MTS (the lifeblood of n-tier architecture performance) can only touch the highlights. Creation of ActiveX controls gets much deeper coverage. Another weakness is the (not unexpected) Microsoft optimism with respect to the performance and robustness of COM technologies. A healthy dose of caveats is lacking. Conclusion: A good introduction to COM for intermediate level VB developers. A superb study adjunct for 70-175 candidates.
Rating: 
Summary: A great primer!
Review: This is without a doubt one of the finest CS books I have ever read. The writing is clear and logical, and the book is extremely well organized. The authors patiently bring the reader along through a series of simple projects which clearly demonstrate the topic being discussed - and guess what? They all work! The chapters on ASPs and IIS are nice intros to those areas. This is an introduction to COM programming. If you are new to COM, I sincerely recommend this book.
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