Pro WPF in C# 2010: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 4

1.4. The Architecture of WPF

WPF uses a multilayered architecture. At the top, your application interacts with a high-level set of services that are completely written in managed C# code. The actual work of translating .NET objects into Direct3D textures and triangles happens behind the scenes, using a lower-level unmanaged component called milcore.dll. milcore.dll is implemented in unmanaged code because it needs tight integration with Direct3D and because it's extremely performance-sensitive.

Figure 1-2 shows the layers at work in a WPF application.

Figure 1.2. The architecture of WPF

Figure 1-2 includes these key components:

• PresentationFramework.dll ...