XAML, the Extensible Application Markup Language, is the code-behind language for Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight applications. The idea is that application designers can create the whiz-bang graphics they want and hand them over to developers as XAML files that the developers need not touch (or “ruin,” depending on whom you ask).

A couple bloggers have had a chat recently about programming with XAML. They focus primarily on using XAML with WPF — not surprising, since, in relative terms, it has been around a lot longer than Silverlight. Both articles are worth a read, especially for those just getting started with XAML programming.

Tomer Shamam loves XAML, particularly the way it separates design from code, is hierarchical and is able to define a graphic using fewer lines of code than do static languages.

On the other hand, Omer van Kloeten does not love XAML. It doesn’t make good enough use of the .NET 2.0 CLR, it adds complexity (in the form of new syntax for binding and references, a different parser and compiler, and new layers), and the tooling support for both developers and designers is a bit immature.  

Have any of you out there had XAML experiences that mirror those of either Shamam or van Kloeten? Feel free to weigh in.