[teahou]

Hi folks. I have been making web sites for a couple years using good old xhtml for the structure, javascript for functionality and php for server side and database connectivity.

I am looking into moving away from websites to web application and general software development, and I am looking for a new family of languages. I had looked at Java, but it seems a bit old school and clunky. I have visual Studio 2010 on my home computer from when I took VB6 in college, so I started messing around with it a bit and have started to fall in love with C#.

Before I get too into learning a language, I like to gain an understanding of how it all works first, so i have been researching the .NET framework, CLI, CLR, WPF, etc. I have come up with some questions that I can't seem to find an answer for, so i hoping to find them here.

1. Is it correct that winforms is considered old technology, which has been replaced by WPF?

2. I remember when learning VB in school, the GUI was all click and drag, but the look was very dated. i remember thinking, "well it works, but it looks like ass". If I understand my research, WPF is the new click and drag interface but it has way more tools,s o GUIs look way better, yes?

3. true or false - I can learn C# and WPF, and tell employers I am an entry level C# programmer?

3a. If false, what other languages/technologies would I need to learn before looking for a low end job?

4. ASP.NET is for making websites, right?

5. Now to the title of my post. If I making a website with c# & asp.net, is c# playing the javascript role and asp.net playing the PHP role? Or do I have this ass backwards, and the olnly 'webby' stuff c# does is web applications, not web sites?

6. How does Silverlight fit in with all this?

Basically, I am trying to see what I need to learn in order to get a job. Making websites pays the bills, but I hate all image editors (photoshop, gimp, etc), I'm tired of messing with hosting, etc, etc blah, blah, whine, whine... Plus, real programmers make more money .

So, any and all answers would be appreciated, thanks.

[Byrdsong]

Answering your questions:

1. Yes it is but is still used more than any other technology out there. The future for .NET development is WPF/Silverlight but right now, IMO, I would say at least 80% of .NET apps out there are WinForms.

2. First, eww, you said "VB", we don't say that in this forum hehe... But yes WPF GUI's tend to look hella better than WinForms apps. The backend plumbing developing with WPF made visuals a lot easier to code vs WinForms.

3. Yes with about 2-3 years experience first.

3a. Anything with about 2-3 years experience first.

4. Yes

5. No, javascript is still javascript. C# is the backend plumbing that helps communicate to the server functions similar to PHP. ASP.NET is a programming framework (on a very broad scale) for developing websites using IIS web services for server functionality (kinda like the engine that runs PHP).

6. WPF's little brother (or sister) but imagine that Silverlight is like Adobe Flash development but using WPF syntax so cross-porting apps from one to the other is very easy with little to no code change.

Hope I helped a little...
Happy coding