[Lazarus] IUnknown and reference counting

[Mark Morgan Lloyd]

Michael Schnell wrote:
> On 03/21/2013 12:30 PM, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:

>> COM is Component Object Model and DCOM is Distributed Component Object
>> Model, developed by Microsoft. This only works on the Windows platform.
>> That is how the do ActiveX, and how Delphi does multi-tier support with
>> MIDAS (using DCOM).
> That is exactly why I think the *language-concept* (here a thingy that 
> provides reference counting, auto-creation and auto-deletion of an 
> instance etc of a classes instance) should be described independently of 
> COM, DCOM, Axtive X, MIDAS and such things that are not related to the 
> language itself, while the language concept/syntax - being useful in 
> itself, anyway, can *additionally* be used to allow the programmer to 
> handle  COM, DCOM, Axtive X, MIDAS and such things.

It's also interesting to be able to state unambiguously whether the use 
of interfaces in a program pulls in any external libraries or attempts 
any external communication.

-- 
Mark Morgan Lloyd
markMLl .AT. telemetry.co .DOT. uk

[Opinions above are the author's, not those of his employers or colleagues]