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I have my ideas, but I always feel that I'm overly pessimistic. So I'd like to hear more opinions.

How much time do you need to start coding using a new framework so that your code is production ready and not become a support nightmare later on for:

Say large scale frameworks:

ATL/MFC/STL/WTL/.NET/COM/BOOST

And small scale frameworks/APIs:

MSXML/Silverlight/ADO/LIBXML/WIN32/OpenGL/DirectX/CUDA

What are your estimates for both types, [from;to] for both senior/junior developers.

Any ideas on what can decrease the learning time say: Book>API doc, or Tutorials>Book

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I certainly would not consider Silverlight and DirectX small scale frameworks. – Ramhound May 2 '11 at 13:13

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Base the amount of time relative to the risk level of the application. You've probably considered this when deciding if you should use it at this time or not. If you're working on an small in-house app, you can get away with being less familiar.

I've been torn between trying a new framework/api on a new application or trying to apply it to a previous project. Hopefully, you understand the previous project much better and could plan accordingly. You may not want to put it into production and just use it as a training exercise. Otherwise, learn the new stuff with the idea it will make the new project easier/better/maintainable/whatever.

Research and read as much as you have to, but make sure you take as much time as you can to do some coding with it. Learn by doing.

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Still, the estimates seem pretty tough to get right. Would you give a task to a new developer to work on Boost based, say 3 people, project for half a year if he has no Boost skills at all, but good C++ skills? Or .NET project of the same size if he's a C++ programmer. On paper technology might sound nice, but can you expect a quality product with beginner developers in such cases? Are there any indicators when can you fit the technology change in a project, like - programmer can write fizzbuz in 2 minutes without API lookup? What are the quality/risk indicators to look for? – Coder May 2 '11 at 13:34

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