Why Xaml and WPF?

I was asked what the advantage of using Xaml and WPF was and I was unable to
come up with a telling argument. Writing code is harder. Functionality is
incomplete. Fixing a broken build is a nightmare. There are a couple of nice
new components but the fact that MDI and a bunch of other staples have not
been implemented is a significant downside. What arguments can be made for
why a person should develop in this environment?
--
Richard Lewis Haggard
General: www.Haggard-And-Associates.com
Please come visit here for a couple thousand good giggles!:
www.haggard-and-associates.com/Humor/humor.htm

As with everything there is a learning curve. As WPF bring you so many
possibility (easy animation, easy stying, templating, complete customization
of the visual appearance of existing control) the learning curve is big.

Once you got over it though:
- you are more productive
- you can write more beautifull app in less time
- you can change the overall look of your app quite easily by aplying some
top level template
- it's by default DPI independant
- the WPF API control are more customizable, offer more possibility

The fact that the UI is in XAML instead of C# is a who care.
Although before C# 3.5 it is probably easier to write it in XAML than in C#,
despite XAML verboseness...
(in C# 3.5 you've got initializer (new MyClass() { Prop1=xxx, Prop2=xxx.,
......} which bring to C# the declarative advantage of XAML)

--
Regards,
Lloyd Dupont
NovaMind Software
Mind Mapping at its best
www.nova-mind.com
"Richard Lewis Haggard" <HaggardAtWorldDotStdDotCom> wrote in message
news:O6Vx%23PZuHHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>I was asked what the advantage of using Xaml and WPF was and I was unable
>to come up with a telling argument. Writing code is harder. Functionality
>is incomplete. Fixing a broken build is a nightmare. There are a couple of
>nice new components but the fact that MDI and a bunch of other staples have
>not been implemented is a significant downside. What arguments can be made
>for why a person should develop in this environment?
> --
> Richard Lewis Haggard
> General: www.Haggard-And-Associates.com
> Please come visit here for a couple thousand good giggles!:
> www.haggard-and-associates.com/Humor/humor.htm
>
>

Indeed. The learning curve is steep and long.
But the longer you spend with it, the more you realise just how powerful and
future-proof it is.
XAML and WPF skills will be very sought after in the near future.
Surprisingly, MS has done a great job at architecting something.

"Lloyd Dupont" <net.galador@ld> wrote in message
news:ex9RuyduHHA.4504@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> As with everything there is a learning curve. As WPF bring you so many
> possibility (easy animation, easy stying, templating, complete
> customization of the visual appearance of existing control) the learning
> curve is big.
>
> Once you got over it though:
> - you are more productive
> - you can write more beautifull app in less time
> - you can change the overall look of your app quite easily by aplying some
> top level template
> - it's by default DPI independant
> - the WPF API control are more customizable, offer more possibility
>
> The fact that the UI is in XAML instead of C# is a who care.
> Although before C# 3.5 it is probably easier to write it in XAML than in
> C#, despite XAML verboseness...
> (in C# 3.5 you've got initializer (new MyClass() { Prop1=xxx, Prop2=xxx.,
> .....} which bring to C# the declarative advantage of XAML)
>
> --
> Regards,
> Lloyd Dupont
> NovaMind Software
> Mind Mapping at its best
> www.nova-mind.com
> "Richard Lewis Haggard" <HaggardAtWorldDotStdDotCom> wrote in message
> news:O6Vx%23PZuHHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>I was asked what the advantage of using Xaml and WPF was and I was unable
>>to come up with a telling argument. Writing code is harder. Functionality
>>is incomplete. Fixing a broken build is a nightmare. There are a couple of
>>nice new components but the fact that MDI and a bunch of other staples
>>have not been implemented is a significant downside. What arguments can be
>>made for why a person should develop in this environment?
>> --
>> Richard Lewis Haggard
>> General: www.Haggard-And-Associates.com
>> Please come visit here for a couple thousand good giggles!:
>> www.haggard-and-associates.com/Humor/humor.htm
>>
>>
>

Hi,

Radek Cerny wrote:
> Indeed. The learning curve is steep and long.
> But the longer you spend with it, the more you realise just how powerful and
> future-proof it is.
> XAML and WPF skills will be very sought after in the near future.
> Surprisingly, MS has done a great job at architecting something.

MS.NET is not the same as MS Office. .NET is remarkably well architected
(especially since 2.0), which is why innovation comes so fast and is so
stable. Remember that .NET 3.5 is still based on 2.0. It's a very well
thought environment.

Greetings,
Laurent
--
Laurent Bugnion [MVP ASP.NET]
Software engineering, Blog: http://www.galasoft.ch
PhotoAlbum: http://www.galasoft.ch/pictures
Support children in Calcutta: http://www.calcutta-espoir.ch