A couple of days ago I attended a presentation titled ‘WPF in LOB applications’. Without the abbreviations that would be ‘Windows Presentation Foundation in Line Of Business applications’. It was just an overview but some interesting points were mentioned.

First of all, it was explained that Microsoft Silverlight is a web-based subset of WPF. Now that places things in perspective for the web-minded. Then there was some coverage on XAML, a markup language used to develop interfaces, thereby separating business from logic. I’m not sure how that is handled in WinForms applications but I got the impression that that separation was something new.

Proceeding on that subject the term ‘devigner’ was mentioned, a devigner being a combintion of a developer and a designer. I hadn’t heard that before but then again, it’s just another industry term. The WPF architecture would allow ‘devigners’ to have a larger role in a project. There’s a bit of paradox there as the increasing separation between logic and presentation seems more likely to push designers and developers back in their respective corners. But if you look upon it as ‘getting the hardcore logic out of the interface development’ it makes a lot more sense.

Anyway, it raises a lot of questions: What is a devigner? Do devigners exist? (sure, depends on the definition) Am I a devigner? (probably, depends on the definition) Are you a devigner? Do they appear ‘out in the open’? If so, how can you recognize them? Is the emphasis on design or develop? Can designers be good developers and vice versa?

Regarding that last question: Just because someone is a proficient soccer player doesn’t mean he can’t be good at chess, right?

Interesting, interesting…