What WPF books would you recommend? [closed]

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Well, i've got a nice WPF book its called Sams Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed. I really like to read and learn with it. Are there any other WPF books you could recommend?

Diplosis answered 13/8, 2008 at 8:59 Comment(0)

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I've found the following books very useful:

Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed - Adam Nathan
You mention you already have this book, however I wanted to give my opinion on it. It is a great book for the newcomer - it is printed in full color which is a great help for visualizing both xaml and concepts for WPF.

Essential Windows Presentation Foundation - Chris Anderson
This is also another great book for the newcomer. While it is not printed in color, it does give a great insight into how WPF works.

Pro WPF in C# 2008 - Matthew Macdonald
This is a great reference book - one that sits on my desk and is constantly referred too. However, I didn't feel is was as newbie friendly as the other two books above. This is the most recently released book (at the time of this posting), and has been updated for VS2008. This is useful, as there are some changes with the versions of WPF. I believe there is a VB.NET version available.

Programming WPF - Chris Sells & Ian Griffiths
Another great book - I wish this was available when I was first learning the framework.

Application = Code + Markup - Charles Petzold
This was the very first WPF I purchased. It is not very newbie friendly, and I wouldn't recommend it for a first-time-wpf'er. The fact that Xaml is not introduced until page 457 makes learning the technology for the real world very difficult. That said, this book is invaluable if you really want to understand how things work at a very deep level (which is also important to get the most of the framework.

The only book I would totally avoid is:

Professional WPF Programming - Chris Andrade et al.
While the content was Ok in this book, I just found the other books to be much clearer and delve to a much deeper level.

Hope this helps! WPF has a steep learning curve, but once you "get it", UI programming can actually become "fun"!

Irmine answered 13/8, 2008 at 14:57 Comment(2)

There is a VB.NET version avaliable to Pro WPF 2008 =) – Adolpho 23/3, 2010 at 12:50

Why has this thread been locked? Surely book threads should be updated? – Leffert 10/4, 2011 at 10:7

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Sams Teach Yourself WPF in 24 Hours.

I'm one of the authors, so my opinion is biased. Our book is structured around building four applications. It's not as in-depth as Nathan's or Petzold's books. Its intent is not to be exhaustive (or a reference), rather it is a means to coming up to speed quickly on WPF. Likewise, to provide a foundation so that you won't feel overwhelmed when you encounter some of the various nooks and crannies in the technology.

Judon answered 16/10, 2008 at 20:56 Comment(3)

Seconded. Chris nailed this presentation at Code Camp in Tampa a couple weekends ago. – Rebarebah 17/12, 2008 at 17:0

Good reviews on Amazon, I am going for it! – Pitt 20/4, 2009 at 12:26

I haven't read this but I've always liked the [sams] books because you can dive right in – Excoriation 26/4, 2011 at 15:33

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WPF in Action with Visual Studio 2008

It is in print now.

Shawnee answered 11/12, 2008 at 11:35 Comment(1)

A co-worker recently bought this book and mentioned that it is the first manual/technical guide that he's read cover-to-cover. He recently gave my programming team a presentation on WPF, which I thought was pretty good. – Mayorga 22/6, 2009 at 20:34

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Adam's book is fantastic - http://blogs.msdn.com/adam_nathan/archive/2006/05/17/599301.aspx Also Petzold's is good although a little chewey to get through :-) http://www.charlespetzold.com/wpf/

Ample answered 13/8, 2008 at 9:13 Comment(1)

I actually had to read Petzold's book ... before Nathan's book made any sense. Petzold provided the detail that my mind needed in order to 'grok' Nathan's book. Both are a must have on a WPF programmer's desk! – Soothe 6/10, 2008 at 2:50

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MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit - Microsoft .NET 3.5 Windows Presentation Foundation (70-502)

I personally find that I become much more motivated to read and learn about a topic if the learning process culminates with a Microsoft Certification. If you're anything like me, you may find it more rewarding to dive into this certification study guide that just came out a week or two ago.

Richelieu answered 29/8, 2008 at 2:6 Comment(0)

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A new book just came out by notable WPF expert, Pavan Podila (with a little help from Kevin Hoffman). It's all about building controls in WPF and is aptly called:

WPF Control Development Unleashed

If you're going to be building visuals, elements, or controls in WPF, you will want this book on your shelf. Getting to the point where you understand enough of the WPF API and concepts to write a decent control, takes enough time ... this book will ease your journey!

Soothe answered 24/9, 2009 at 12:16 Comment(0)

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I am with KiwiB* awesome book. Although you need to now .net to get some of the examples, as they miss some of the using statements for the code examples.

Obduliaobdurate answered 13/8, 2008 at 9:25 Comment(0)

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I'm currently starting in on "Pro WPF with VB 2008: Windows Presentation Foundation with .NET 3.5 (Paperback)" and so far am pretty happy with it. Good for us VB'ers... :)

Feces answered 17/12, 2008 at 16:53 Comment(1)

I'm starting the same book and I'm also very happy with it, the only problem being that I'm currently on a WinForms side project that I wish I had started after knowing WPF, haha... – Adolpho 23/3, 2010 at 14:9

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Yes, I highly recommend this one

Brachyuran answered 13/8, 2008 at 9:10 Comment(0)

Sams Teach Yourself WPF in 24 Hours.

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