1.

LINQ Support
essentially is the composition of many standard query operators that allow you to
work with data in a more intuitive way regardless.
LINQ

The benefits of using LINQ are significant Compile time checking C# language queries,
and the ability to debug step by step through queries.
2. Expression Blend Support
Expression blend is XAML generator tool for silverlight applications. You can install
Expression blend as an embedded plug-in to Visual Studio 2008. By this you can get
extensive web designer and JavaScript tool.
3. Windows Presentation Foundation
WPF provides you an extensive graphic functionality you never seen these before. Visual
Studio 2008 contains plenty of WPF Windows Presentation Foundation Library
templates. By this a visual developer who is new to .NET, C# and VB.NET can easily
develop the 2D and 3D graphic applications.
Visual Studio 2008 provides free game development library kits for games developers.
currently this game development kits are available for C++ and also 2D/3D Dark Matter
one image and sounds sets.
4. VS 2008 Multi-Targeting Support
Earlier you were not able to working with .NET 1.1 applications directly in visual studio
2005. Now in Visual studio 2008 you are able to create, run, debug the .NET 2.0, .NET
3.0 and .NET 3.5 applications. You can also deploy .NET 2.0 applications in the
machines which contains only .NET 2.0 not .NET 3.x.
5. AJAX support for ASP.NET

Previously developer has to install AJAX control library separately that does not come
from VS, but now if you install Visual Studio 2008, you can built-in AJAX control
library. This Ajax Library contains plenty of rich AJAX controls like Menu, TreeView,
webparts and also these components support JSON and VS 2008 contains in built
ASP.NET AJAX Control Extenders.
6. JavaScript Debugging Support
Since starting of web development all the developers got frustration with solving
javascript errors. Debugging the error in javascript is very difficult. Now Visual Studio
2008 makes it is simpler with javascript debugging. You can set break points and run the
javaScript step by step and you can watch the local variables when you were debugging
the javascript and solution explorer provides javascript document navigation support.
7. Nested Master Page Support
Already Visual Studio 2005 supports nested master pages concept with .NET 2.0, but the
problem with this Visual Studio 2005 that pages based on nested masters can't be edited
using WYSIWYG web designer. But now in VS 2008 you can even edit the nested
master pages.
8. LINQ Intellisense and Javascript Intellisense support for silverlight applications

Most happy part for .NET developers is Visual Studio 2008 contains intellisense support
for javascript. Javascript Intellisense makes developers life easy when writing client side
validation, AJAX applications and also when writing Silverlight applications
Intellisense Support: When we are writing the LINQ Query VS provides LINQ query
syntax as tool tips.
9. Organize Imports or Usings: We have Organize Imports feature already in Eclipse.
SInce many days I have been waiting for this feature even in VS. Now VS contains
Organize Imports feature which removes unnecessary namespaces which you have
imported. You can select all the namespaces and right click on it, then you can get context
menu with Organize imports options like "Remove Unused Usings", "Sort Usings",
"Remove and Sort". Refactoring support for new .NET 3.x features like Anonymous
types, Extension Methods, Lambda Expressions.
10. Intellisense Filtering: Earlier in VS 2005 when we were typing with intellisense box
all the items were being displayed. For example If we type the letter 'K' then intellisense
takes you to the items starts with 'K' but also all other items will be presented in
intellisense box. Now in VS 2008 if you press 'K' only the items starts with 'K' will be
filtered and displayed.
11. Intellisense Box display position

Earlier in some cases when you were typing the object name and pressing. (Period) then
intellisense was being displayed in the position of the object which you have typed. Here
the code which we type will go back to the dropdown, in this case sometimes
programmer may disturb to what he was typing. Now in VS 2008 If you hold the Ctrl key
while the intellisense is dropping down then intellisense box will become semitransparent mode.
12. Visual Studio 2008 Split View

VS 205 has a feature show both design and source code in single window. but both the
windows tiles horizontally. In VS 2008 we can configure this split view feature to
vertically, this allows developers to use maximum screen on laptops and wide-screen
monitors.
Here one of the good feature is if you select any HTML or ASP markup text in source
window automatically corresponding item will be selected in design window.
13. HTML JavaScript warnings, not as errors: VS 2005 mixes HTML errors and C#
and VB.NET errors and shows in one window. Now VS 2008 separates this and shows
javascript and HTML errors as warnings. But this is configurable feature.
14. Debugging .NET Framework Library Source Code:
Now in VS 2008 you can debug the source code of .NET Framework Library methods.
Lets say If you want to debug the DataBind() method of DataGrid control you can place a
debugging point over there and continue with debug the source code of DataBind()
method.
15. In built Silverlight Library

Earlier we used to install silverlight SDK separately, Now in VS 2008 it is inbuilt, with
this you can create, debug and deploy the silverlight applications.
16. Visual Studio LINQ Designer

Already you know in VS 2005 we have inbuilt SQL Server IDE feature. by this you no
need to use any other tools like SQL Server Query Analyzer and SQL Server Enterprise
Manger. You have directly database explorer by this you can create connections to your
database and you can view the tables and stored procedures in VS IDE itself. But now in
VS 2008 it has View Designer window capability with LINQ-to-SQL.
17. Inbuilt C++ SDK
Earlier It was so difficult to download and configure the C++ SDK Libraries and tools for
developing windows based applications. Now it is inbuilt with VS 2008 and configurable
18. Multilingual User Interface Architecture - MUI

MUI is architecture contains packages from Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office
libraries. This supports the user to change the text language display as he wish.
Visual Studio is now in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese Simplified,
Chinese Traditional, Japanese, and Korean. Over the next couple of months. Microsoft is
reengineering the MUI which supports nine local languages then you can even view
Visual studio in other 9 local languages.
19. Microsoft Popfly Support

Microsoft Popfly explorer is an add-on to VS 2008, by this directly you can deploy or
hosting the Silverlight applications and Marshup objects
20. Free Tools and Resources
People may feel that I am a promoter to Visual Studio 2008 as a salesman, but we get
plenty of free resources and free tools with Visual Studio 2008.
21. We can use for Commercial

Earlier you were spending lot of money to host your .NET applications for commercial
use. Now you no need to worry Now Microsoft is providing you to host your application
free on Popfly for web pages and also visual studio express projects.
The DiscountASP.NET hosting platform supports ASP.NET 3.5 hosting and is
compatible with Visual Studio 2008.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 enables developers to quickly create connected
applications that deliver rich user experiences. Visual Studio 2008 delivers advances
for developers in three primary areas:
Rapid Application Development
Effective Team Collaboration
Break Through User Experiences

New Features in Visual Studio 2008

Visual Studio 2008 provides advanced development tools, debugging features,
database functionality, and new features, for example:

LINQ
A key addition in VS2008 is support for Language Integrated Query (LINQ), which
contributes to rapid application development.

New Web Design Interface

Visual Studio 2008 incorporates a new Web designer that uses the design engine
from Expression Web. Moving between design and source view is faster and the new
split view capability means you can edit the HTML source and simultaneously see the
results on the page. Support for style sheets in separate files is added. In addition, a
CSS properties pane which clarifies the often times complex hierarchy of cascading
styles, so that it is easier to understand. Visual Studio 2008 has full WYSIWYG
support for building and using ASP.NET Nested Master Pages which greatly improves
the ability to build a Web site with a consistent look and feel.

JavaScript Debugging and Intellisense

In Visual Studio 2008 introduces client-side JavaScript Intellisense support. Not only
does the Intellisense give standard JavaScript keyword support, but it automatically
infers variable types and provides method, property and event support from any
number of included script files. Similarly, the JavaScript debugging support now
allows for the deep Watch and Locals support in JavaScript.

Multi-targeting Support
In previous versions of Visual Studio, you could only build projects that targeted a
single version of the .NET Framework. With Visual Studio 2008 supports "multitargeting". Through a simple drop-down, you can decide if you want your project to
target .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0 or 3.5. The builds, the Intellisense, the toolbox, etc.
will all adjust to the feature set of the specific version of the .NET Framework which
you choose. This allows you to take advantage of the new features in Visual Studio
2008, like the Web design interface, and the improved JavaScript support, and still
build your projects for their current runtime versions.

After a long beta period Microsoft pushed Visual Studio .NET 2008 (code named
Orcas) out to MSDN in November - keeping their promise to deliver it by the end of
the year. Develop Mentor has been using Orcas in many of our .NET classes for a while
now and I for one, am pretty excited that its finally here. There are a ton of new features
and enhancements in this release that make it almost a no-brainer to upgrade - I thought
Id take a moment and list my top ten favorites in no particular order:

#10: WPF designer (Cider)

I spend a lot of time on a rich-client island and compared to the embarrassing support for
WPF provided for VS2005 (through an add-on) VS2008 just plain rocks. Not only does
the designer just work, the XAML intellisense is full featured and driven through a real
XAML parser and not an XSD file. That means custom types and namespace completion
actually function as you would expect them to! The visual designer and XAML views
stay synchronized and mini thumbnails and scaling bars are used to help you see what
you are building. You can also see how the new Cider environment has borrowed from
Blend - a Search box is present to filter properties down and the selection in the XAML
pane is synchronized with the visual designer so if you highlight a tag, it selects the
appropriate object in the visual pane.

#9: WPF and Windows Forms integration (Crossbow)

Hand in hand with the designer view, VS2008 improves the designer experience for
Windows Forms to WPF integration. Specifically, ElementHost is now present in the
toolbox and you can drag and drop WPF user controls right onto your Form! You get a
live preview of the control and can edit the content right in the designer.

#8: ClickOnce improvements

Microsoft introduced a simplified way to deploy Windows Forms clients from the web
with Visual Studio 2005 called ClickOnce. With 2008, theyve improved the experience
by allowing deployment through FireFox (previously only IE was supported), better file
associations so your application can be launched by activating a data file, better support
for certificate expiration and changing the deployment location without resigning the
application and support for Office add-ins and WPF XAML Browser application
deployment.

#7: Multi-framework targeting

This release of Visual Studio has a much-needed feature that I wish had been there before
- the ability to target multiple versions of .NET. Specifically, you can select your target
framework (2.0 SP1, 3.0 or 3.5) and the project types, toolbox, references, intellisense
and features will be appropriately set to that version. This selection can occur during
project creation - in the project templates dialog or on the project properties dialog. Be
aware that selecting .NET Framework 2.0 actually means 2.0 SP1 and not the original
.NET 2.0 framework released with Visual Studio 2005.

#6: Better Intellisense support

Web developers benefit from this release too - Visual Studio now has intellisense and
code completion support for JavaScript! Its smart enough to look at the underlying type
currently assigned and correctly infer the methods which are available. So, for example if

you assign a numeric type, the dropdown will be populated with the proper methods
available for the type.
Visual Studio will also look at the comments applied to your methods - just like in C#
and VB.NET, it will pull descriptions out of XML based comments on your JavaScript
methods and display descriptions as tooltips when you are navigating the intellisen se
dropdown.
Another cool feature added to intellisense is the filtering applied - now if you press a
letter and start typing, it will begin to restrict your choices displayed, not just scroll to
that section. This filters the output and makes it easier to find what you are looking for.

#5: Organize your "using" statements

Visual Studio now has the ability to organize your using statements. As a project evolves,
you often end up with a ton of using statements at the top of each file which are not really
being used - either because the project template added it, or because you originally did
use something from that namespace which was then removed later. Now you can right
click on your using statements and sort and/or remove unused namespaces.

#4: Refactoring enhancements

The refactoring support was a welcome addition to VS 2005 - and Microsoft has
enhanced the support in 2008 to support C# 3.0 features and allow you to refactor
anonymous types, extension methods and lambda expressions.

#3: C# 3.0 support

Speaking of C# 3.0, that has got to be one of the coolest features - functional
programming seems to be all the rage these days and introducing these features into C#
3.0 will allow you to be the coolest programmer on your floor. Things like automatic
properties, lambda expressions (which reduce your typing for anonymous delegates),
partial methods, anonymous types and extension methods will radically change how you
can build applications. They can seem weird at first for some people, but dont be afraid
of them! They will cut down your typing and provide for some really cool ways to
enhance and evolve your projects.

#2: Visual Studio Split View

It is becoming increasingly more common to have multiple monitors on developers
desks. Building on the split window feature of VS 2005, Visual Studio 2008 now
allows you to tile the window horizontally or vertically so you can split your design and
code view across monitors! This works in any of the designers (ASP.NET, WinForms,
WPF, etc.)

#1: Debugging the .NET source code

There are actually several debugging enhancements (try debugging JavaScript on the
client-side for example - it works great!) but I think the coolest feature by far has got to
be the debugging enhancements which will allow you to actually debug into the source
code of the .NET framework. Scott Guthrie announced a few weeks ago on his blog that
they intend to release the source code under the Microsoft Reference License. As part of
that release, VS2008 will have integrated debugging support so that you can step into the
framework libraries (ever want to know why your DataBind isnt working??). Visual
Studio will automatically download the source file from Microsofts server and you will
get full watch and breakpoint support. This isnt quite ready yet, but its coming soon and
promises to be one of the biggest timesavers added to Visual Studio!
There are a ton of other features that make VS 2008 a worthwhile upgrade - you can
experience it yourself by downloading a copy at no cost today Scott Guthrie's Blog
(Express editions have been released) or upgrading from MSDN. VS 2008 co-exists just
fine with 2005 and 2003 but be aware that the project format has changed and its not
backwards compatible, so sharing projects with your coworkers may be slightly painful
for you until everyone moves to the new release as you will have to maintain two project
and solution files.

.NET Framework 3.5 New Features

Faster .NET Framework execution

1. Faster garbage collection

2. Smarter, faster NGen requiring
smaller working set RAM
3. 64 bit client improvements
4. ThreadPool performance
improvements
5. Security check caching during
NGen

Base Class Library New Class Additions

6. BigInteger, HashSet and DateTime2

types
7. NSA Suite B and FIPs compliant
cryptography
8. Lightweight Reader/Writer Lock
Classes
9. Anonymous and Named Pipes IO
Classes
10. Integration with Event Tracing for
Windows
11. New Addin hosting model for
extensibility

Language Integrated Query (LINQ)

Deep integration of LINQ dataawareness into the programming

languages and framework.

Workflow Enabled Services Process and

Messaging together

Web 2.0 Friendly and AJAX Enabled WCF

Services

Visual Studio Developer Tools for WF, WCF

and in Visual Studio Orcas

Using workflow to provide for

durable and long-running services.
New Tools, WF activities and new
programming model classes have
been added to simplify building
workflow-enabled services using
WF and WCF. This allows a .NET
Framework developer to build
business logic for a service using
WF and expose messaging from
that service using WCF. These
improvements not only provide
tools for this scenario but they
reduce the amount of glue code
that was previously required.

Ajax is a web development technique Visual StudioOrcas has built in tools

for making asynchronous exchanges of for web service authoring with WCF
small amounts of data between
and for building workflow enabled
browser and web service calls from the software with WF. There are new
browser client script to the web server. project templates for WCF services, WF
A programming model is provided for business logic, workflow enabled
building Ajax style web applications
services, and AJAX services. The
using WCF services. An HTTP
templates are conveniently set up to
programming model is also provided compile and run even before any
allowing for REST style web services. custom code is added enabling .NET
developers to get going quickly. There
are also numerous other tools for
developing with WF, WCF and WPF.

More WS-* Standards Support

RSS and ATOM Syndication API

Partial Trust Support for WCF Hosting

Implementation in WCF of the latest

OASIS specifications Web Services
Atomic Transaction (WSAtomicTransaction) 1.1, WSReliableMessaging 1.1, WSSecureCOnversation and Web
Services Coordination (WSCoordination) 1.1.

Applications built using WCF will be

able to easily expose syndicated data
which can be consumed by an RSS or
ATOM reader.

Partial trust on the vlient is provided

for ASMX parity focussing mainly on
partially trusted WCF applications
deployed through click-once. Support
is provided for basic HTTP binding
provided that the application runs in
the Internet zone permissions and
have granted the apropriate
WebPermission. Secure communication
is possible through transport security
only. All other features are not
available to partially trusted
applications including hosting services
duplex communications, non-HTTP
transports, WS-* protocols and any WF
use.

Rules Data Improvements

Built-in WPF tools for Visual Studio Orcas

Additional WPF Features and Improved

Performance

The rules engine in WF is improved

to add support for C# 3.0 extension
metods, and for operator
overloading . Also the new
operator is added to compete the
base set of expression types.

The Visual Studio designer for WPF wasWPF has smoother animations, faster
previously released as a CTP. It is not startup and better overall
performance. There are also new data
integrated into the development
types available for data binding with
environment and is significantly
LINQ. Better integration support is now
improved.
provided for with codename WPF/E.