.NET and COM- The Complete Interoperability Guide Description:

.NET and COM: The Complete Interoperability Guide review:
5 stars (the one I turn to) - Never one to skimp on books, I ordered three with almost exactly the same title on COM/.NET Interop when I needed some information on the subject. Adam Nathan's book is by far my favorite. I've never found an answer in another book that wasn't in Nathan's (and have found many in his that I didn't find anywhere else).



It seems like this book isn't as easy to get on amazon as it once was--a pity, because it's the first (and maybe only) Interop book you'll need. Maybe he'll come out with another edition as .NET changes...


5 stars (Truly is the Complete Guide) - This book has been an invaluble resource on a .NET/COM interop project I've been working on. Don Box's quote on the cover sums up the title nicely, "This is the last book that should be written about COM programming. There is nothing left to say."



Since I'm a published author myself, I first bought a book on this topic from my publisher Microsoft Press. While accurate, it left a lot to desire. Very little advanced information was provided. However, this title from Adam Nathan's and Sams Publishing leaves nothing out, including extensive references.



If you are working with COM objects from .NET, or vice-versa, this book will be an excellent resource.
4 stars (Comprehensive interoperability book) - Often finding an appropriate and effective bridge to .NET is a time consuming and problematic task, we had to do a lot of research and benchmarking to find an optimal solution. Having this book by Adam Nathan will save time and effort on building these bridges.



The material in the book is intended for use by experienced professional developers, it's certainly not an entry level tutorial, but the author's style, detailed description supported by examples makes it easy to read and follow. A short introduction to .NET and managed code concepts is provided in the first section of the book. I discovered, however, that this book may be helpful to the people who have no previous COM knowledge, due to the very descriptive and illustrative style.



The author clearly has an extensive experience of COM and a good knowledge of Microsoft .NET. That's why the material is not just an abstract presentation, but a systematically organized guide, focused on potential problems and difficulties a developer may face. However, it is still only focused on COM/.NET interoperability, most probably I would need another book about Java, CORBA working with .NET. The book, as already mentioned, is not an introductory or general conceptual tutorial on programming or architecture, but a very detailed and comprehensive interoperability reference, and it is definitely worth its price. Also the length of the book, about 1600 pages is well justified. Another positive side of the book is that examples are written in VB, C# and managed C++.