Today, I began to pick up WPF, Microsoft's next generation framework for producing user interfaces. Reading through WPF Unleashed, I suddenly had a realization concerning software development.
Software development can be likened to the making of a book-making machine. The goal is that you end up with something (either a piece of software or a tool) which can help with accomplishing a task more easily and efficiently. This is the thought behind software development.
The development of software itself can be considered as a task which can be made easier with software tools, such as WPF, and GDI and DirectX, it's predecessors. So, what benefit is there to WPF over the older tools? The answer can be illustrated using the bookbinding jig. Whereas GDI and DirectX have certain limitations, similar to being able to bind books of a specified dimension and thickness, WPF leaves things more open-ended, allowing the developers to have more freedom and flexibility in the books that they are able to bind.
Software development can be likened to the making of a book-making machine. The goal is that you end up with something (either a piece of software or a tool) which can help with accomplishing a task more easily and efficiently. This is the thought behind software development.
The development of software itself can be considered as a task which can be made easier with software tools, such as WPF, and GDI and DirectX, it's predecessors. So, what benefit is there to WPF over the older tools? The answer can be illustrated using the bookbinding jig. Whereas GDI and DirectX have certain limitations, similar to being able to bind books of a specified dimension and thickness, WPF leaves things more open-ended, allowing the developers to have more freedom and flexibility in the books that they are able to bind.
Written on March 4, 2010