Visual Studio 2008: A First Look

Visual Studio (VS) 2008, now in beta and due to ship by the end of 2007, includes the latest version of the .NET Framework, significant improvements in the way developers query databases, and better support for developing applications with Office 2007. However, there will be few improvements for application modeling or support for the Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI). Visual Studio Team System (VSTS), Microsoft’s product for allowing teams of developers, testers, architects, and managers to collaborate more efficiently, sees only minor improvements.

LINQ Leads Language Improvements

The most significant improvement to Visual Studio 2008 (formerly code-named Orcas) and the accompanying .NET Framework 3.5 is the introduction of Language Integrated Query (LINQ), which provides developers with the ability to write SQL-style queries directly from within the Visual Basic (VB) and C# programming languages. LINQ promises developers a single consistent way to retrieve and update almost any type of data, which in turn can speed programming for most business applications.