COM

COM is a technology that allows defining software components so that they can be used from a variety of programming languages. It allows components to be used from the same process, from a different process and also from a process running on a remote computer.

Advantages

Language independence
Very good support - many Microsoft technologies (Office, IE) still rely massively on COM
Seamless usage from more modern technologies, such as .NET

Disadvantages

Complex implementation
Memory management is reference counted, which means circular references can cause issues
Global registry information storage can cause problems with different versions of the components

Derived technologies

ActiveX
COM+
DCOM
OLE
OLE Automation

Development tools

Microsoft Visual Studio
C++

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