Initially I had some problems finding information about writing Windows 8 Apps. Well I had problems finding good information. Then I discovered "Writing Windows 8 Apps With C# and XAML" by Charles Petzold. I wished it was written with C++ in mind. However it was written by the master and I was happy about that.
I have mentioned before that you need a Windows 8 developer account to upload apps to the Windows 8 Store. Windows 8 apps run in a full screen normally. You can only get the apps from the Windows Store. You deploy the apps to the store using Visual Studio itself.
Windows RT runs the Windows Store apps. This is the Windows Runtime. It is a new object oriented API. Inside it is based on the Component Object Model (COM). Hey. Old goodies do not die. They just get repackaged. WinRT is kind of like SilverLight I hear. I could not say as I am not familiar with SilverLight. Apps are not managed code. The namespaces begin with Windows.UI.Xaml.
To recap your options, you can build a Windows 8 app with C++ and XAML, C# and XAML, VB and XAML, or JavaScript and HTML5. The C++ is C++/CX, which stands for C++ with Component Extensions. It is a special type of C++. On the JavaScript side, you use Win JS which stands for the Windows Library for JavaScript. Yep. Intuitive.
