Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is a system for creating connections between applications using services and endpoints. WCF is, more than anything, an infrastructure technology for messages. Just as roads support cars, and as electricity travels over wires and cables, and as pipes convey water, WCF exists to transfer messages between any two endpoints. And it does so securely as well. That is, you can create messages that are encrypted to keep your information safe from criminal minds.
For more technical information about WCF, see WCF Architecture Overview.
For videos and more, see the beginner’s page on the Microsoft Developer Center.
For a hands-on lab that you can work through, see the WCF Tutorial.
If you have a question, try the WCF Forum. Other forums that touch on WCF topics include the Workflow forum, AppFabricService and Workflow Management forum, and the ASMX Web Services and XML Serialization forum.
Of course, you are now on the WCF wiki. The wiki allows you to add your personal knowledge and expertise to a public forum. If an existing topic needs work, and you have the expertise, please fix it. Or if you have knowledge that would be useful to others, create a new page to share it.
This article is also available in the following languages:
Richard Mueller edited Revision 25. Comment: Removed tag "MS"
Carsten Siemens edited Revision 24. Comment: Fixed misspelling
Luigi Bruno edited Revision 22. Comment: Added the "Books" section.
Ed Price - MSFT edited Revision 19. Comment: We're not going to add "(en-US)" to the titles because of various difficulties. Please continue to add the tag though!
Horizon_Net edited Revision 13. Comment: updated formatting
Horizon_Net edited Revision 12. Comment: updated formatting
Horizon_Net edited Revision 11. Comment: added link to german version, updated language tags, and added toc
Nevin Janzen edited Revision 10. Comment: Tags Edit
Ed Price - MSFT edited Revision 9. Comment: Font formatting
Ed Price MSFT edited Revision 6. Comment: Let's remove "Wiki" from the title. Every topic could have the word "Wiki" for this reason.
Sidney edited Revision 2. Comment: reformat
Sidney edited Revision 3. Comment: add a tag to adding-an-appfabric-wcf-workflow-service-to-a-web-site-by-using-visual-studio-2010.asp
Sidney edited Revision 4. Comment: fixed link
Good summery of (beginner) resources.
How about adding a link to the WCF 4 samples?
msdn.microsoft.com/.../dd483346.aspx
Great article.