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NCSA NEWS |
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COM is an open standard developed by Microsoft
that specifies a blueprint for building reusable
software components, or objects. Each performing
a particular function, COM objects are easily
maintained, reusable chunks of software that are
accessed through a uniform interface. This
uniform interface allows COM objects to be reused
by applications written in unrelated software
development efforts, speeding up the development
cycle of new programs. While it hasn't been
widely practiced in the software industry,
the use of standard components is not a new idea.
Since 1960 the use of uniform components has
allowed computers to evolve from room-size
behemoths to wallet size palmtops with more
processing power than could have been bought for
a million dollars thirty years ago. The progress
that has been achieved, however, couldn't have
occurred if hardware engineers had been required
to extract the silicon from sand every time they
needed a chip. The accelerated evolution that has
actually taken place has occurred because
hardware engineers don't have to start from sand.
They typically use a collection of prepackaged
components, each of which performs a particular
function, and each of which interoperates with
other components through uniform, standardized
interfaces. They arrange these components in
novel ways and integrate them with new components
to produce innovations. This model of
reusability is what Microsoft is hoping COM
will supply for software engineers.
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