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VC++ and Win8 Metro apps: May 18, livestream and on-demand

2012-05-17 by Herb Sutter

Want to know how to write cool tablet apps using Visual C++?

On May 18, Microsoft is hosting a one-day free technical event for developers who want to write Metro apps for Windows 8 using Visual C++. I’m giving the opening talk, and the rest of the day is full of useful technical information on everything from XAML and DirectX to networking and VC++ compiler flags.

11 Responses

on 2012-05-17 at 10:03 am Andrei Kovacs

What about VC++ and XP – Win8 desktop apps?
on 2012-05-22 at 9:32 am Fallon Massey

Microsoft has said that HTML5/JS is the recommended way to build Metro apps.

After the Silverlight debacle, how can you assure anyone that XAML/C++ is a vaild way forward, even if we hope that it will.
on 2012-05-22 at 9:41 am Herb Sutter

@Fallon: The Windows team did emphasize HTML5+JS at //build/ because it’s new and so people do need to be educated that it’s for real, but you can and should use any of the three — HTML5+JS, XAML, or DirectX — for your apps. Microsoft does — for example, see the Bing Maps demo in the middle of the talk.
on 2012-05-22 at 2:57 pm Fallon Massey

Thanks Herb, and just today I got further confirmation of your viewpoint.

Pete Brown said this about his changing position at MS – “I will also continue working with the Silverlight and WPF community, but will add to that a much larger focus on Windows 8 XAML going forward, and possibly some phone work too.”

This is evidence that XAML is something important to MS.

See Pete’s announcement here – http://10rem.net/blog/2012/05/22/my-new-role-at-microsoft

Thanks for your response.
on 2012-05-22 at 10:53 pm Jeevanand

@Herb: Is there any good books out there that help us learn C++/CX or writing native code for metro style apps etc
on 2012-05-23 at 9:18 am Herb Sutter

@Jeevanand: The books are coming. Here’s one I know about that’s on the way, announced today: http://sridharpoduri.com/2012/05/23/announcement-book-on-c-cx-and-metro-style-app-development/ .
on 2012-05-25 at 7:36 pm Patrick

Disappointed to see that the compilers have been removed from the SDK, the WDK, and that VS11 Express only does Metro. So much for a free command line environment for non-metro apps. Very, very disappointing.
on 2012-05-26 at 1:13 am Juhani

Microsoft is destroying FOSS by getting rid of the compilers and VC++ Express. Ironic, considering that the term “C++ Renessaince” was coined by a Microsoft employee…
on 2012-05-26 at 1:18 am Juhani

Oh, and how can you be seriously pushing C++11 when it cannot be used in many projects that must use VS2010 since many won’t have access to VS11? Hypocrisy, no?
on 2012-05-26 at 10:48 pm Patrick

I don’t think it’s fair to pile-on or hijack the thread. Let’s face,these sorts of decisions come from elsewhere. Just wanted to register my dismay. I’m sure we’re all aware of the many sound arguments for making fully functional command line tools (note that I did not say IDE) available at no extra charge above and beyond what we pay for the OS.
on 2012-06-05 at 9:55 pm Patrick

Just wanted to post a retraction. Despite the hysteria (understandable given the messaging from MSFT), it IS possible to write a desktop application in C++ using the compiler shipping with Visual Studio Express 2012. I just got it to work. Of course you can’t do it with the IDE, but the command line is there. And you have to install the Windows SDK separately. But it can be done. The raw tools are there.