Winforms perpective vs WPF. General question

I know such questions have been discussed here but have never seen them to be put it in this new light. We all know that WinForms isn't updated anymore by Microsoft. For client apps they are pushing WPF now. And people say WPF is harder to learn (I don't know, haven't tried really. And when I've tried I didn't much like it). But on the other hand, could that be it is just WinForms is perfect and开发者_如何学C there is nothing more to be done here?

WPF is in deed much harder to learn as WinForms. However it is really powerfull and gives you a lot of new possibilities. (I like the DataBinding-features and Templating really a lot).

WinForms on the other hand is very stable and is built on Win32. I'm sure it will be supported for a long time in future. But for me it's clear that microsoft will not extend the features if they have a new concept out there. Would you extend your old app, if you have a new one?

For me, I have switched already some years and I have never regreted the change. However, I have a lot of clienst with WinForms-apps, I built before and I don't have any hurry to update them to WPF. I never had a problem with WindForms, it is really a good and reliable product. As for your question: I think really WinForms is complete. It represents its time and has the features, this time had to offer. However, it's not perfect, no software can be perfect. Furthermore, I know also a lot of companies, developping new Apps with WinForms. MS will surely not letting die a technology for which so many apps exists. Look at XP, it will live longer than Vista.

Hard to learn is subjective.

I started learning winforms and WPF about the same time and I definitely feel more confident using WPF and feel I have picked it up quicker simply because I didn't have to "unlearn" winforms.

Sure, some WPF concepts are harder to understand at first but once they click into place you will start making progress and won't look back.

Saying that both technologies are great. Winforms Ace card is that it is mature, stable and easier to find help for.

Saying this, your question has a hint of "I'm not sure which one to choose so need someone to tell me" - The best advice is pick one and get on writing your application. Great applications can be written in both WPF and Winforms.

WPF is definitely better than WinForms, when you develop any LOB application its a high priority that how well you manage your code/project. When using WPF you have the power of following:

1. Separating your view from logic (the power of xaml, easier to read and design)
2. You can implement MVVM which gives you great control of your code. When working with multiple teams on a big project its a big plus.
3. On top of all that you can choose to use a framework like MVVM light, or use Prism 4.0 which not only helps implement MVVM but has other features too.
4. Another big advantage is, once you develop an application in WPF, you'll be able to develop in Silverlight with great ease. and with Silverlight 4 you have the capability of running your app out of browser without coding. Same app will run on desktop, cloud, web. Finally I would say I wouldn't use WinForms because its 2011, WinForms is 90s...