WinRT Delivers New System APIs in Windows 8

Before joining Directions on Microsoft, Rob worked at Microsoft for 14 years where he designed technologies for Microsoft products and... more

The new “Metro-style” user interface (UI) delivered with both Windows 8 and Windows RT will usher in a new generation of applications built on new APIs offered by WinRT. The APIs are implemented with a flexible architecture that enables developers to use popular programming languages such as C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, and JavaScript to build Metro-style applications. High performance and code reduction are emphasized, and a subset of the .NET Framework is supported. The changes may improve the development experience, but developer training will be required and existing code will likely need rewriting to be ported.

WinRT Powers Metro-Style Applications

WinRT (RT stands for “runtime”) is the foundation on which all Metro-style applications are built. WinRT APIs are implemented with native C++ code that connects directly to the Windows kernel and in some cases wraps existing Win32 APIs. Metro-style application developers must use WinRT APIs to access all OS functionality, such as communication, graphics, storage, media, device interaction, and UI controls.

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