Alternatives to WPF? [closed]

Question

I'm in the process of learning C# and have a firm grasp of Java, and almost two decades ago VB6. I'm jumping straight into Windows desktop applications and wonder what alternatives there are to WPF?

Anything recent, that would be more relevant to spend time learning?

I did find a thread here, but wonder if there has been any changes. For instance, Silverlight is all, but seemingly abandoned.

Background: I hold a BS degree in Computer science, but it has been about 5-years since I have been in the technology industry and would like to jump back into a programming career. As a start I would like to build a portfolio.

Answer 1

In general, WPF is the best option for Desktop development on Windows. There is nothing else that comes close.

The main "alternative" would be if you wanted to target Windows Store applications, in which case you'd use the Windows Store development model. This is still XAML based (as are all of the new Microsoft UI technologies), so WPF knowledge transfers over fairly well.

Answer 2

If you are solely looking at c# native UI development, I think your only alternative would be WinForms. Personally I think that WPF is a lot more flexible and easier to work with when you get a grasp on it, and it's very friendly to expansion if you want to write your own extensions. WinForms can arguably be more basic and easy to learn, but you won't achieve the same level of flexibility and extension.