What Is Windows SDK (Software Development Kit) 8.1 ?

When Windows SDK 8.1, also called Windows Kits 8.1, is a development resource package that includes:

1. Resources for developing Windows Store apps with support of the following:

• Web (HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript)
• Managed XAML, with code-behind in C# or Visual Basic
• Native XAML, with code-behind in C++
• Native (Win32/COM)

2. Resources for developing Windows desktop apps with support of the following:

• Managed (.NET Framework)
• Native (Win32/COM)

3. Development tools:

• Application Verifier - A runtime verification tool for native code that helps you find programming errors that can be difficult to identify with typical application testing. You can run the Application Verifier on your code to identify memory corruptions, uses of handles that aren't valid, issues with locks, issues with the use of the thread pool, and many other issues.
• Debugging Tools for Windows - Tools that help you debug drivers, applications, and services that run on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, or Windows 8.
• Windows Performance Toolkit - A collection of tools that provide detailed analysis of many performance problems, for example, application start times, start issues, deferred procedure calls and interrupt activity, system responsiveness issues, application resource usage, and interrupt storms.
• DirectX High Level Shader Language (HLSL) compiler - A set of runtime dynamically linked libraries (DLLs) that you can include with your desktop app (or tool) to compile HLSL shaders for use in the Direct3D graphics pipeline. You can also use DirectX11 Compute to perform complex operations such as Scan and Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs).
• Windows App Certification Kit - Tools that you can use to certify that your apps follow Windows conventions and standards.
• Performance Analyzer for HTML5 App - A tool to help you identify potential performance issues in your app by analyzing it as it runs. By using this tool, you can better understand the performance characteristics of your app, in addition to how users are likely to perceive its performance on target hardware that's running Windows 8.

⇒ Build Console Application with Visual Studio 2017

⇐ Windows SDK 8.1 Program Folders

⇑ First C++ Program in Visual Studio 2017

⇑⇑ Visual Studio Tutorials