Initial quick-start feedback

[mrlacey]

From following the instructions at https://github.com/microsoft/win-dev-skills#quick-start
Here are my initial thoughts (HTH)

• I expected this to be something I could kick off and leave until it was finished. It wasn't :(
• The number of prompts where I was asked to approve a long PS command that I didn't understand felt both frustrating and concerning.
• The report below has such a long session time because I really did just leave this running on a separate machine, and I didn't realise it was waiting for input.
• Of the generated app, yes, it built a complete app, but I don't know what the value of it is. There's nothing really reusable in the code it produced. The app only let me browse in-memory data. The generated XAML (based on a quick review) seemed unnecessarily verbose, complicated, and deeply nested.

I now plan to have it try to produce something that I can actually use.

As requested, here's the session report.

session-report.md

The full generated app code can be provided if needed.

[nmetulev]

Thank you for taking the time to test it @mrlacey!

Few follow ups if you have the time:

• Why couldn't you leave it until it was finished - was it because it was asking for too many permissions you had to review? How much of that is github copilot vs these skills issue?
• Do you remember what the PS commands were? (you might be able to ask copilot to help identify the exact commands that were used based on its session logs).
• Any specific feedback on what bad patterns it used?
• Overall, were the skills helpful vs not using the skills to build winui apps? How much of the feedback is specific to the skills vs copilot or the specific model used? Does a more comprehensive prompt produce more usable code?

[mrlacey]

• Why couldn't you leave it until it was finished - was it because it was asking for too many permissions you had to review? How much of that is github copilot vs these skills issue?

It was asking me to approve running powershell commands and didn't provide a "Yes and do this for all following.." option

Or, maybe it offered it on the first question and I selected "Yes" and then it didn't present the option after that. 🤷

I'm not sure how much of this was the CLI or the skill. In this context, it's hard to tell, and it all becomes part of a single experience. (I'm not a big CLI user. I like GUIs 😄)

• Do you remember what the PS commands were? (you might be able to ask copilot to help identify the exact commands that were used based on its session logs).

Sorry, no can find. :(

Any specific feedback on what bad patterns it used?

There were lots of nested grids. And to a silly degree. i.e. A nested grid with only rows defined. then for each row a grid with only columns defined.

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I also reran the command to produce a second app. The second app didn't look as good.
Highlighted below is text that crashes into other text or is inappriatley clipped.

[mrlacey]

For comparison, I also tried to oneshot an app with the same prompt in Claude Code.
Obviously not all things are ever equal but in this simple comparison.

• It said it had built a complete app, but it wouldn't run. (failed at launch)
• It had even worse XAML (just yucky)
• It didn't make as good use of available resources.
• In its logs. it "got muddled" with tryign to use Mica.
• There were invalid/broken bindings in what it produced.

In contrast with my experience using Copilot CLI and the WinDev Skills, Claude was greatly lacking.
From my limited experience, Using the WinDev skills (& CLI) produced a much better (although not perfect) code base upon which to build.