WinRT - An Introduction

With imminent release of Windows 8, the buzzword has been Metro UI and Metro based applications. With Windows 8, Microsoft is introducing a new development platform called WinRT or Windows Runtime, that has developer community scratching its head.

Over 10 years ago Microsoft introduced the .NET framework which revolutionized Web Development at least for Microsoft developers. Those of us that were developing web based applications in classic ASP exhaled a sigh of relief. As framework matured, Visual Basic and C# matured as well.

Now with WinRT looming, most developers are wondering whether .NET framework is a thing of the past.

Similar to .NET Framework, WinRT is an intermediary and is built on top of COM. It allows you to develop applications using C#, VB.NET, XAML, but also in C++, HTML 5 and Javascript.

Admittedly there are some nice features, such as automatically deciding when to execute code in asynchronous mode rather than relying on developers, there are also some serious constraints - for example applications developed in WinRT will not run on previous versions of windows.

If you are wondering why another framework, why not just enhance .NET Framework to work with Metro apps? I am sure you are not alone.

Thank you.