WPF stands for Windows Presentation Foundation. It's a re-invention of a UI for Desktop applications using WPF. Apart from dropping controls on "Windows Forms" just as developers have been doing for years, WPF provides an extra rapid boost to the application development including Rich User Interface, Animation and much more.
In a nutshell the following things can be done using WPF:
- Draw normal controls and graphics.
- Can easily load/play audio and video files.
- Can provide smooth graphical effects such as drop shadows and color gradients.
- Can use shared styles which can be used across the same controls to provide the same theme, skin and design.
- Transforming objects including shapes, controls and video.
- Can create and animate 3D graphics.
- Can easily draw vector graphics that scale without jagged aliasing.
Advantages
- Tight multimedia integration
- Resolution independence
- Hardware acceleration