Author Andrew Troelsen tells about the building blocks of the COM and .NET architectures and how they interact (i.e. interoperate), with emphasis on a basic understanding of each component part and the role it plays.

Andrew Troelsen is a partner, trainer, and consultant at Intertech Inc., and is a leading authority on both .NET and COM. His book Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform won the prestigious 2003 Referenceware Excellence Award and is in its third edition. Also of note are his earlier five-star treatment of traditional COM in the bestselling Developer's Workshop to COM and ATL mirrored in his book, COM and .NET Interoperability, and his top-notch investigation of VB .NET in Visual Basic .NET and the .NET Platform: An Advanced Guide. Troelsen has a degree in mathematical linguistics and South Asian studies from the University of Minnesota, and is a frequent speaker at numerous .NET-related conferences. He currently lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Amanda, and spends his free time investigating .NET and waiting for the Wild to win the Stanley Cup. You can check out his blog at AndrewTroelsen.blogspot.com.

1 Understanding Platform Invocation Services.- 2 The Anatomy of a COM Server.- 3 A Primer on COM Programming Frameworks.- 4 COM Type Information.- 5 The Anatomy of a .NET Server.- 6 .NET Types.- 7 .NET-to-COM Interoperability-The Basics.- 8 .NET-to-COM Interoperability-Intermediate Topics.- 9 .NET-to-COM Interoperability-Advanced Topics.- 10 COM-to-.NET Interoperability-The Basics.- 11 COM-to-.NET Interoperability-Intermediate Topics.- 12 COM-to-.NET Interoperability-Advanced Topics.- 13 Building Serviced Components (COM+ Interop).