Read original post by Kenny Kerr at MSDN Magazine
In my last column, I examined the Windows Runtime (WinRT) application model (msdn.microsoft.com/magazine/dn342867). I showed you how to write a Windows Store or Windows Phone app with standard C++ and classic COM, using only a handful of WinRT API functions. There’s certainly no requirement that you must use a language projection such as C++/CX or C#. Being able to step around these abstractions is a powerful capability and is a great way to understand how this technology works.
My May 2013 column introduced Direct2D 1.1 and showed you how to use it to render in a desktop application (msdn.microsoft.com/magazine/dn198239). The next column introduced the dx.h library—available from dx.codeplex.com—which dramatically simplifies DirectX programming in C++ (msdn.microsoft.com/magazine/dn201741).