WPF is more powerful than Windows Forms, as a chain saw is more powerful than a hand saw. With WPF, you can make your user much happier and more productive, which is your ultimate goal. But like anything else powerful, WPF is also double-edged. You can also make your user much less happy and less productive by using WPF, from simple confusion down to inflicting physical pain in under 30 seconds. Read my article “Using WPF for Good and Not Evil” to see examples of both.

Most WPF instruction teaches you HOW to do things, without discussing what you should be doing and what you shouldn’t, or where and when you should do something versus when you shouldn’t, let alone why. I consider that to be malpractice – as bad as teaching someone how to fire up a chain saw without also teaching him which end of it to hold.

This class is designed for developers, architects, and managers switching from Windows Forms to WPF. I  teach you how to start implementing in WPF, but I also teach you how to carefully choose and employ WPF’s features in ways that please your users.  

The goals of this class are:

1. To understand the fundamental architecture of WPF and to understand the specific features of WPF that are most useful in enterprise applications, and

2. To understand how to design your WPF applications to make users happier and more productive, and

3. To provide you with the understanding of the fundamental principles in items 1 and 2 that will allow you to continue to progress on your own.

Note: If you already know how to program WPF, and want a class in pure user interface design, see my class on Developing Software That Doesn't Suck