What's the main developing framework for the next Windows?

Question

Some articles point to Windows 8 development being HTML-based instead of primarily using native code like C or C++ (as it has been until now) or .NET (as now, or even more so as it would have been in Longhorn, but never was.)

Is this true? Will the core APIs be accessible from Javascript then? What is the primary API / framework for Windows 8?

Answer 1

This is worth asking. When Windows 8 was demonstrated in June, a couple of comments by the presenter scared quite a few developers - or at least turned the Internet into panic mode. I'm surprised this question hasn't been asked here before.

The best article on the topic I have found is Windows 8 for Software Developers on Ars Technica.

The short answer is: it will remain the same.

The long answer is: it will remain the same, but several things will be added. You may want to pursue using those if you're willing to bet on new Microsoft technologies. One particularly interesting one is WinRT, which is a new object-oriented native code API exposed through COM, which is supposed to be a new version of the old flat Win32 API. Details are in the linked article.

It is very, very, very, very unlikely that anything that already exists, especially based on Win32 or .Net, would be removed. That means your existing programs written in .Net or native C++ or Delphi will continue to work fine. It is also unlikely that the primary development platform will be HTML. More likely is that HTML applications will be encourage for specific scenarios - perhaps touchscreen, kiosks and tablets.

I'd encourage you to read the article I linked to above - it covers this in far more detail than any answer here can.

Answer 2

There are three ways to develop for Windows 8, and they all access the same underlying API, the Windows Runtime.

• Use C++ and call WinRT functions much like calling Win32 APIs back in the day (you know, yesterday)
• Use C# or VB and call what appear to be .NET methods (but aren't)
• Use Javascript and call WinRT functions

The UI is built with XAML using a pretty reasonable designer. More details are still coming out: check http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011 for videos with detailed coding demos. http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011/BPS-1005 is not a bad starting point.