Active Template Library
Shares rank 5 of 9 c++ libraries by recommenders
Free C++ library for COM code that people find useful with little cost. Common caveat: awkward casting and sharp edges make it messy.
Free C++ library for COM code that people find useful with little cost. Common caveat: awkward casting and sharp edges make it messy.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 75%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful abstraction with little cost
“ATL/WTL (and MFC) are still very useful abstractions with little cost.”
Comment from 26 Oct 2026 in “Oldest GUI application that still runs on Windows 11” Good for COM programming
“I never went back to doing COM in C after that.”
Comment from 15 May 2026 in “WinUI 3 Performance: A Leap Forward” “especially if you need to do com stuff”
Comment from 22 Mar 2026 in “Windows native app development is a mess” Overlooked alternative to Microsoft's guidance
“Yet they didn't mention another piece of work called ATL. Active Template Library.”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Heavy casting overwhelms business logic
“even with that help, our actual business logic was absolutely overwhelmed by all the annoying casting”
Comment from 10 May 2026 in “I'm writing a history of Visual Basic, Chapter 1 is up” Messy when used with WRL
“Using it from ATL, WRL, C++/WinRT, is a mess unfortunely.”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “C Isn't a Language” Sharp edges and room to improve
“all have their sharp edges and could be so much better”
Comment from 7 Aug 2026 in “Thoroughly Understanding C++ ABI”
Other c++ libraries people recommend
The four most recommended other c++ libraries, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| musl libc | 34 | 25 | 58% | 10 | — | — |
| glibc | 29 | 75 | 28% | 10 | — | — |
| Cosmopolitan libc | 29 | 6 | 83% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Sp.h standard library for C | 11 | 27 | 29% | 1 | — | — |
| Active Template LibraryThis page | 6 | 2 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“ATL/WTL (and MFC) are still very useful abstractions with little cost.”
“all have their sharp edges and could be so much better”
“I never went back to doing COM in C after that.”
“even with that help, our actual business logic was absolutely overwhelmed by all the annoying casting”
“Yet they didn't mention another piece of work called ATL. Active Template Library.”
“especially if you need to do com stuff”
“Using it from ATL, WRL, C++/WinRT, is a mess unfortunely.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.