After working over a year on IOS XR, I've found that it is not as difficult as initial thought, you just need to get used to the syntax and the way it arranges the configuration. It got less configuration directly under the interface, in some scenarios like you want to remove your configuration in lab practice, you will find it is more convenient to do so. (e.g. no mpls ldp, no rsvp, no mpls traffic-eng, compare with IOS you have to "no" all these configurations under interfaces)
In IOS when you are defining a static route, the command is:
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.1.40.30
However in IOS XR, you will be configured under the "router static" process, much neater and easier to read:
router static
address-family ipv4 unicast
0.0.0.0/0 10.1.40.30
If you have vrf it looks like this
router static
address-family ipv4 unicast
0.0.0.0/0 10.1.40.30
vrf panda
address-family ipv4 unicast
10.1.9.1/32 int gi0/0/0/2
