WPF vs. Silverlight
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WPF vs. Silverlight
WPF vs. Silverlight
The Windows Presentation Foundation, or WPF, is a graphical subsystem that was added as a part of the .NET
Framework. It allows developers to easily develop interfaces for their
Windows applications. Microsoft Silverlight is another piece of
software from Microsoft that offers the same capabilities, and was
intended to compete with Adobe Flash, and others that are similar. It
is simply a subset of the already existing WPF. For a period of time,
Silverlight was called WPF/E, with the ‘E’ standing for ‘everywhere’.
The use of WPF is limited to
applications that are meant to run on the Windows operating system. You
cannot build an application that is able to run on any other operating
system, and even for older versions of Windows, like 95 and 98.
Silverlight applications can be used on any operating system, just as
long as the operating system’s host is a Windows
operating system. This means that using Silverlight is much better in
cases where your users are far away, and using varied operating systems.
As Silverlight was intended to be used
online, certain limitations were imposed, in order to maintain its
function, regardless of the operating system, and to avoid malicious
programs that can damage the computer
of the person browsing the site. Silverlight cannot access the
resources of the local machine. Since WPF is used in applications that
are meant for local use, it is aware of the operating system on which it
runs, and can take advantage of that to improve its performance, and
use the features that are not available in Silverlight.
3D imaging is one of the features that
Silverlight is lacking. This is necessary if you want to create 3D
views, and environments just like what you see in most of the newer
games. WPF can fully render 3D images, since it can directly access
Direct3D. Later versions of Silverlight, added 3D support, although
this was not full support. It is now capable of perspective 3D.
Summary:
1. Silverlight is simply a subset of WPF.
2. Silverlight is meant to be used online, while WPF is for local use.
3. You can use Silverlight
applications regardless of the operating system you use, while WPF
applications are restricted to later versions of the Windows operating
system.
4. Silverlight lacks access to local resources, while WPF can utilize local resources.
5. Silverlight only has perspective 3D support, while WPF is capable of full 3D images.