WPF or Winforms for a beginner?

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WPF vs. Windows Forms

I am starting to learn C# and wonder, when and why I should choose WPF? I also wonder what WCF is. Are they both GUI related stuff to head into?

If I can make a GUI with Winforms, why should I make a GUI with WCF/WPF?

What does WFC stand for? Windows Foundation Classes which is outdated? Or do you mean WCF - Windows Communication Foundation? Is the last WPC something else or is it a typo? — Anders Abel, Jul 29 '11 at 17:11
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/885266/wpf-vs-windows-forms — krs1, Jul 29 '11 at 17:15

score 12 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 29 '11 at 17:16

WPF is a more modern technology than Winforms. It has better layout handling through the XAML code and allows for more advanced GUI patterns such as MVVM (Model View View-Model) built on databinding.

If you start out fresh I would suggest going for WPF directly. Stay out of the databinding and MVVM to start with and just put your code in the code behind file.

WCF is Windows Communication Foundations which is not directly related to GUI programming, although many client applications written in WPF or Winforms uses WCF for communication.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 29 '11 at 17:30

WPF is also a great method of deploying updates to multiple users simultaneousnessly. When you publish an update in WPF it is immediately available to all users and does not require installation to run. The user simply hits the xbap and they begin downloading the newest copy of the application.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 29 '11 at 17:53

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On top of what has been already said, I'll just add that learning WPF will give you excellent foundations for Silverlight, in case you want to try something different one day (or - less desktop oriented).

answered Jul 29 '11 at 17:53

k.m

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 29 '11 at 17:13

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You use WPF to provide rich contents in UI. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163662.aspx

answered Jul 29 '11 at 17:13

Tae-Sung Shin

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WPF or Winforms for a beginner?

4 Answers4