WPF is the beginning of the future of Windows development. In time, it will become a
system like User32 and GDI/GDI+, on top of which more enhancements and higher-level features
are added. Eventually, WPF will allow you to design applications that would be
impossible (or at least thoroughly impractical) using Windows Forms.
Clearly, WPF introduces many dramatic changes. However, there are five key principles
that immediately stand out because they are so different from previous Windows user interface
toolkits such as Windows Forms. These principles are the following:
??? Hardware acceleration. All WPF drawing is performed through DirectX, which allows
it to take advantage of the latest in modern video cards.
??? Resolution independence. WPF is flexible enough to scale up or down to suit your
monitor and display preferences, depending on the system DPI setting.
??? No fixed control appearance. In traditional Windows development, there??™s a wide
chasm between controls that can be tailored to suit your needs (which are known as
owner-drawn controls) and those that are rendered by the operating system and essentially
fixed in appearance. In WPF, everything from a basic Rectangle to a standard
Button or more complex Toolbar is drawn using the same rendering engine and completely
customizable.
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