In a nutshell, WPF a.k.a. Windows Presentation Framework provides the foundation for building applications and high fidelity experiences in Windows Vista, blending together application UI, documents, and media content, while exploiting the full power of your computer (WPF MSDN, 2008).

If you have never seen any WPF application before, look for sample applications at here. If you are a developer or a designer, I can assure that you will be WOW after seeing the nice UI and probably consider building an application like those. Therefore, in the remaining post, I will only discuss about how to get started and the REAL world practice. Well…if you need an introduction or walkthrough on what is WPF, download the presentation slide at here.

To GET STARTED, Microsoft provides a all-you-want-to-know site named WindowsClient.Net. On the other hand, to get started in Silverlight, the site you must refer to is Silverlight.Net. First of all, download all the essential tools such as Visual Studio 2008 and Expression Studio.

LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE. Frankly speaking, when I was ready to learn WPF and Silverlight, I had skipped reading up those “how to develop a Hello World” tutorials. What I did is download some sample projects with source code, run it and study it.

If you are going to develop a commercial or enterprise application, do refer to Composite Application Guidance for WPF by patterns & practices Developer center. You may download the Composite Application Guidance package that consists of a sample application source code and documentation. Refer to this guide is very useful, as I’m using it too for my projects.

Last but not least, a few must-explore-into tools are WPF Application Quality Guide and Performance Profiling Tools. The WPF Application Quality Guide provides guidance for improving the testability of WPF applications; Performance Profiling Tools allow you to analyze WPF application run time behavior and potential performance bottlenecks.