Visual Studio 2008, .NET Framework 3.5 released

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 are available for download. One of most anticipated features of this release is the new Language Integrated Query. LINQ embeds queries for entities, collections, datasets, objects and even XML within .NET programming languages.

Additional new or improved features in Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 include the following:

• ASP.NET AJAX and Visual Studio Tools for Office, which were previously available as downloadable add-ins to Visual Studio, are included with VS 2008.
• To better accommodate Ajax development, Visual Studio now offers JavaScript IntelliSense.
• The .NET Framework 3.0 libraries have been updated, with a Windows Communication Foundation designer, WCF support for RSS and REST and better interaction between WCF and Windows Workflow Foundation among the improvements.
• Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation server also received a refresh; these features include support for SharePoint 2007, new code analysis rules and check-in policies, better support for testing Ajax applications and continuous integration of builds.