I've never heard of #import, is that some MS unique thing? It's certainly NO standard C++
It is an MS COM thing. Basically COM defines interfaces and constants in a .tlb (type library) file. In C++ the interface is defined in IDL (interface defintion language), where as VB 6 and others it's generated automatically. Also, sometimes this type library info is stored directly in the object file itself (a dll or exe) When you #import, in MSVC, it looks at the .tlb file, and translates that to intermediate .h code that basically defines in C++ terms, what the interface is and then (for all intents) #includes that intermediate .h file. (The generated .h is similar to the normal intermediate .o files) for a quick overview or reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vclang/html...