Okay Pelican Nerds, Why Should I Care About .NET 3.0 and XAML?
 

Yup, I'm reading about it and trying really hard to get excited about it. But so far, no go. I guess the whole introduction of XMAL was intended to separate GUI design from GUI programming. Okay. Whatever. But why create a whole new markup language just for GUI's? Is there a deeper plan (like maybe using XMAL to replace APS.NET or something sexy like that)? Does the 3.0 architecture somehow play better with Vista? And does anybody have a theory on what parts of .NET 3.0 are going to be the most marketable in the future?

I know there must be a "there" there. But I'm still not seeing it.

"Anything that is created or implemented in XAML can be expressed using a more traditional .net language, such as C# or Visual Basic .NET. However, a key aspect of the XAML technology is the more simple approach required for tools because it is simply XML. Consequently, a variety of products are emerging, particularly in the WPF space, to create XAML files. Being XML-based, XAML allows analysts, designers and developers to share artifacts more realistically and to enable these artifacts to be re-edited by any of these roles without requiring additional re-integration work by the others."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Application_Markup_Language

Yeah, I read the same wiki and it made the whole thing seem even less interesting. Like why bother giving me a new way to do everything I can already do? If anything, it seems to add an unnecessary layer of complexity. Perhaps peeling the GUI design away from the application code was deemed worth the effort. But I still don't see the great advantage.

Oh yeah, and the fact that 3.0 apps will not work at all under Win2k is absolutely unforgivable IMO. C++ is starting to look a whole lot more attractive.

WebObjects!!!!!!

...and now you know the "why". Big push to get everyone off W2K.

If you want to run all Microsoft its probably a great way to go. But you can't date Bill, ya gotta marry him. So you are right - new languages/tools to do the same thing you've been able to do for years, but "better". Only thing like that that I've seen from MS that I like the the quick way to build a gui and really start writing code (or what passes for it) in Visual Basic. Makes it a great scripting tool, so when I used windows I tended to use VB like I use shell scripts in Linux now.

However, it gives you a few extra squares on your buzzword bingo cards.

Of what's been mentioned here, I'd like to do C/C++ ... its the one language that I got screwed on by incompetent teachers - cancelling class 3 weeks in a row, during a 8 week semester, and never returning homework, answering questions, etc.

Edit - I think Vista is gonna make a lot of people Switch to either Linux or Mac.

Or they'll just gripe about the disaster after it strikes.

This is the bit that I hate about selling into M.S. married businesses.

The entire rest of the world has a nice set of standards with Web Services, XML, and J2EE. Not old Bill though, he has to create his own incompatible standards... Just like the old days when "MSN" was gonna be the hot thing and not the internet.

These shops end up making exception after exception to get good enterprise class software in-house.

cstreit -

Marketing! It's **deliberately** incompatible.

Okay, I'll bite. Why should I care about web objects? Is this something I can turn into $$$?

Wow. Sorry to hear about the lame class. C++ is pretty fun - although if you use the Win32 API, it can feel a bit clunky compared to newer languages. That said, I actually prefer using the Win32 API because nothing is hidden and everything is explicitly stated. If you want to learn to code with C++, I recommend the following tutorial.

http://www.stromcode.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page/Tutorials/Win32_Tutorial

Believe it or not, that tutorial was the main source I used to learn C++.

Janus - nice tutorial, but no win32 computers for me to code on :) Even thouhg I can get the full visual studio from work for free....

Microsoft back-end stuff doesn't scale. It's fine when your running ten thousand transactions a day, but when you are running a few billion a day, it starts to do funny stuff (like crash a lot, transactions hang, database threads don't close). Besides, I'm yet to find a Microsoft product that doesn't have a serious memory leak (Excel and Access do, the back-end stuff is worse).

Well, after some more reading, I think an image is starting to emerge. If I understand correctly, the plan is to use XAML to unify desktop and web development. So if I get it right, both ASP.NET and Winforms will collapse down to just XAML. Is this how you folks read it?

If this is correct, then it actually makes some sense. But it throws my certification plans out the window (no pun intended). I would think getting certified in ASP or Winforms would be useless now that XAML is becoming the .NET standard. Better to wait (?) until an exam covering .NET3.0 is available? God d@mned microsoft never ceases to annoy me!