Introduction

Confessions of an XAML Jockey

Perhaps my story sounds familiar...when I first started programming with Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), and later when I dove into Silverlight 2.0, I was one of "those" programmers who figured I would build my applications by typing all of the necessary markup by hand.[1] After all, a copious amount of typing is part of the job description for any software engineer. When I was defining layouts with grids, stack panels, and controls, life was good. However, once I dove deeper and began working with animations, data templates, control templates, and custom graphics, I soon realized just how unproductive my days were becoming.

I knew of a Microsoft tool named Expression Blend, but as far as I was concerned, ...

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