C++/CX

C++/CX, short for C++ Component Extensions, is a language projection that lets C++ programmers call Windows Runtime APIs. It is a set of extensions to Microsoft's C++ compilers rather than a library. Its syntax borrows from C++/CLI, including the hat notation for reference counted Windows Runtime objects created with ref new, but it targets native code on the Universal Windows Platform instead of the Common Language Runtime and managed code. It adds ref classes, partial classes, which let XAML design tools generate code in a separate file, and runtime generics whose type information lives in metadata. Programs expose their classes through metadata in the same format standardised for the Common Language Infrastructure, so code can be shared with C# and JavaScript. Microsoft has since superseded C++/CX with C++/WinRT, an ordinary header based ISO C++17 library, and the lower level Windows Runtime C++ Template Library is superseded as well.