User interface development with C++ for Windows applications can be a challenging experience. When Visual Basic first appeared all those years ago, developers flocked to it, in part, because building a user interface in it was so much more productive than building the equivalent UI using C++ at that time, and C++ has never really caught up since.

Over recent years, with Microsoft moving away from WinForms, and the rise of declarative interface design with XAML, building a flexible yet powerful user interface has never been easier. The functionality offered by XAML based UI technologies is impressive, with data binding, in particular, being a genuine productivity enhancement.

Meanwhile, C++ developers have been left further and further behind, with the mainstream interface development typically found in the work being done by game studios and some in-house Microsoft product teams. Starting with VS2012, the power and flexibility of the XAML based user interface design is...