title: "Overview of Windows Programming in C++ | Microsoft Docs"

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- [Windows Universal apps](#BK_WindowsUniversal). The third category of Windows apps was introduced with Windows 8, and support for this category of apps continues in Windows 10. These apps are frequently referred to as just "Windows apps" and they include desktop and mobile apps that target a variety of devices. You can write these apps in C++/CX, a dialect of C++ that includes support for Windows Runtime development, or in standard C++ with COM using the Windows Runtime Library (WRL). These apps were originally designed to run full-screen, although in Windows 10 users have the option of running them in a desktop window. These apps are touch-oriented, but it is easy to use the mouse to operate if users prefer or if a touch screen is not available. These apps are distributed from the Microsoft Store, a fact which led to them being called "Store" apps.

This category also includes using C++ for core components and computational code in the context of server and cloud programming. Sometimes the performance-intensive code at the core of a server or cloud application is written in C++ to maximize performance. You can compile such code into a DLL and use it from C# or Visual Basic.

If you have an existing Windows 8.1 project and want to port it to Windows 10, see [Porting to the Universal Windows Platform](../porting/porting-to-the-universal-windows-platform-cpp.md). If you have existing classic Win32 desktop libraries and code that you want to integrate into a UWP app, see [How to: Use Existing C++ Code in a Universal Windows Platform App](../porting/how-to-use-existing-cpp-code-in-a-universal-windows-platform-app.md).

For more information on all of these concepts, see [Guide to Windows Universal Apps](http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=534605).

To learn the basics of writing Windows client applications for the desktop, see [Developing Windows Applications in C++](http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio//hh304489) and [Introduction to Windows Programming in C++](http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/desktop/ff381398\(v=vs.85\).aspx).

- Command-line apps and utilities. For more information, see [Console Applications](../windows/console-applications-in-visual-cpp.md).

- Consumer applications that have sophisticated graphical user interfaces. For more information, see [Hilo: Developing C++ Applications for Windows](http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=256417)

- Add-ins for Microsoft Office applications. For more information, see [Building a C++ Add-in for Outlook 2010](http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=256420)

You can use Visual C++ to package almost any kind of custom high-performance functionality in Win32 DLLs or in COM DLLs that can be consumed by C++ apps or by apps that are written in other languages—for example, C# or Visual Basic. For more information about WIn32 DLLs, see [DLLs in Visual C++](../build/dlls-in-visual-cpp.md). For more information about COM development, see [Component Object Model (COM)](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/desktop/ms680573).

- Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC): An object-oriented framework for creating traditional Windows programs—especially enterprise applications—that have rich user interfaces that feature buttons, list boxes, tree views, and other controls. For more information, see [MFC Desktop Applications](../mfc/mfc-desktop-applications.md).

- Concurrency Runtime: A library that simplifies the work of parallel and asynchronous programming for multicore and many-core devices. For more information, see [Concurrency Runtime](../parallel/concrt/concurrency-runtime.md).

Other platforms such as Xbox and Azure have their own SDKs that you may have to install. For more information, see the DirectX Developer Center and the Azure Developer Center.

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