If c++ support is coming in Windows Phone 8, should I learn silverlight now?

[Tom Mohammed]

I have no prior experience, however I'd love to be able to get started as some sort of hobby I heard silverlight development is being ditched in Windows Phone 8 in favour of c++, native code. Would it be worth knuckling down and learning silverlight at all? How different are they?

[Ashley K.]

I think Silverlight is pretty much a dying breed. The only application that I can think of that actually uses it successfully is Netflix and that's to put DRM on their videos. When the streaming business first started, anyone with the link to the video could watch it regardless of a membership, so they had to put a clamp down on that really fast.

If Silverlight is dropped like Adobe has dropped Flash support for mobiles, I'm not sure what Netflix will do.

[techblitz]

I think Silverlight is pretty much a dying breed. The only application that I can think of that actually uses it successfully is Netflix and that's to put DRM on their videos. When the streaming business first started, anyone with the link to the video could watch it regardless of a membership, so they had to put a clamp down on that really fast.

If Silverlight is dropped like Adobe has dropped Flash support for mobiles, I'm not sure what Netflix will do.

I know Microsoft wants to get rid of silver light, but I think mobile support, at least for Windows Phone, will remain. WP7 already relies too heavily on Silverlight and to drop it now would pull the feet out from under Windows Phone.

[techblitz]

I have no prior experience, however I'd love to be able to get started as some sort of hobby I heard silverlight development is being ditched in Windows Phone 8 in favour of c++, native code. Would it be worth knuckling down and learning silverlight at all? How different are they?

Even though C++ is there, I'd still go to Visual Studio and acquaint yourself with the other languages, including XNA and Silverlight. If I remember correctly, there's even C#!

[Ravenheart]

From my personal experience, I'd advise to stick with C# as it's, atleast in my opinion, much more pleasant and enjoyable language than C++. But you might want to try for yourself

[techblitz]

From my personal experience, I'd advise to stick with C# as it's, atleast in my opinion, much more pleasant and enjoyable language than C++. But you might want to try for yourself

This guy seems to know what he's talking about! : D

[Ravenheart]

This guy seems to know what he's talking about! : D

I wouldn't really say so myself I just have some C# and C++ experience and I find C# more pleasant to code in