Microsoft WPF, Expression, and feeling ignorant

Posted under Blog Posts, Software Design

I have not felt this ignorant since 1991.  Right now, I feel like a beginner, a novice, an incompetent loser.  My new custom South Park avatar accurately represents my current mental condition.

Before today (before Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation – a.k.a. WPF), I was a brilliant software designer, grunting out ingenious systems daily for my benevolent overlords.  Now, I am a babe in the woods and I’m grumpy.  Such is the terrible and mighty power of Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation and the Expression Toolset.

What is NOT the problem ?

My problem is not the graphics aspect of the WPF process.  I have a Bachelors of Arts degree in Fine Art and have been an accomplished Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator user since 1992.  (Holy crap; 15 years?!)  I also have four years of professional audio/video production experience, and more than a little multimedia know-how.

My problem is also not the software development aspect of the process. I have been employed full-time as a software designer and developer for the past 8 years, have designed a few large-scale distributed systems from scratch, and I did web/programming for 4 years before this.

So, what IS my problem?

I seem to know surprisingly little about the mechanics of Windows Presentation Foundation.  I am at a loss for how to create even the most simple and fundamental UI surfaces and controls.  That’s a shame, because my design requires some sophisticated and elegant behaviors.  Worse yet, I have discovered that there is an assload of stuff to learn before I can even pretend to be competent designing and writing WPF apps. 

I spent the whole day today watching beginner videos on the WPF and XAML.  I feel like I’m starting from scratch again.  It’s damn sobering.  I haven’t worked this hard to grok a new workflow in a long time.  I had gotten lazy, and I had grown accustomed to 1) hearing the general requirements and then 2) instantly seeing the system design in my head. Now, I’m struggling to grunt out a stupid UI prototype.  Ack.

Karsten posted an article about this steep learning curve with WPF and Expression in April 2006.  I wish that I had stumbled into Karsten’s blog a bit sooner.  Now I am mega-catch-up mode, and workin’ hard for the money.  (No pity, please.)