# Essential COM by Don Box

2 Hacker News commenters recommended Essential COM by Don Box and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a classic that goes through every design decision COM made and the reasoning behind it.

## Why people recommend it

- Explains COM's design decisions and rationale (1 comments): "If you read Don Box's book on COM he goes through every decision they made and the rationale for it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46910608))
- Seen as a classic reference (1 comments): "see the classic Essential COM by Don Box" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49212624))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Crafting Interpreters by Robert Nystrom](https://hackerapproved.com/p/crafting-interpreters.md): 60 recommend
- [Clean Code by Robert C. Martin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clean-code.md): 31 recommend
- [The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt and Thomas](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pragmatic-programmer.md): 28 recommend
- [How to Design Programs by Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-to-design-programs.md): 18 recommend
- [Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastering-emacs.md): 17 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0201634465?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780201634464) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Essential COM by Don Box", https://hackerapproved.com/p/essential-com/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).