Charles Petzold has declared August to be International WPF 3D Programming Month. There is even a logo:
While this logo may bring into question if Mr. Petzold should be allowed to choose colors on his own, one cannot question that he is the perfect person to lead us into WPF 3D Month. His latest book, 3D Programming for Windows, is on shelves now - a follow up to Applications = Code + Markup (which I am currently reading). Charles will be using his blog this month to post several code examples of all the cool things you can do with WPF 3D.
In honor of this month I will also be posting about WPF, but not 3D (well, maybe a little). I am truly enjoying learning WPF, so my topics will be aimed at the new-to-WPF-yet-already-dot-net-familiar crowd.
So why bother with WPF? It's a valid question, and I hear it often. One reason is it is the future - windows forms are on the way out. Sure this isn't an overnight thing, and hell, FoxPro is still being used. The real reason I see is it will make your life simple. Not only because it's a better method to create applications, but you only need to know WPF to handle normal applications, applications that need 3D (no need to learn DirectX), and even SilverLight (which is a subset of WPF). Mark Miller says it best:
WPF is the most significant technology to come out of Microsoft. Ever.
Kudos to Microsoft for somehow being able to harness the power of giant-brained freaks no doubt suspended in oversized floor-to-ceiling Plexiglas tubes filled with bubbling brightly-colored liquids. I can just see their little arms reaching out of the tube to their little keyboards, their giant brains swaying to and fro, and some freaky guy in a lab coat with electrified gray hair and thick black rubber gloves pacing about and wildly cackling.
It makes me want to cry.
