Microsoft has released beta version of Visual Studio .net 2005 code named Whidbey, which is touted to have major improvements in the software development experience and productivity. Express versions for each of the languages C#, VB, C++, J# along with ASP .Net and Sql Server 2005 have been released separately. All these pre-release versions are freely downloadable and can be used for learning and development.

   A brief look at some of the feature enhancements in the new version..

Visual basic:

   Visual basic IDE has been enhanced with a lot of features to improve developer productivity. Microsoft has tried reducing the pains of syntax errors by making the IDE more intuitive while development there by easing the task of coding for both new and experienced programmers.

1. Reduction in syntax errors by intuitive Intelli-sense
2. Debugging support without restarting the applications, there by reducing the time required for debugging cycle.
3. Improved Exception handling mechanisms. Error reporting with clear messages, paving the way for clear detection of errors.
4. Better upgrade support from old Visual basic 6.0 apps

Visual C++:

Visual C++ will offer expanded support for the CLR and the .NET Framework.

1. Better optimization facilities when compared with other .Net languages namely Profile Guided Optimizations (POGO). This POGO technology enables the compiler to instrument an application and collect details on how an application is being used at runtime. This will be used by Visual C++ to optimize the code generated based on the real world patterns. This is supported for 64 bit apps currently and will also be available for 32 bit apps. This is available as a part of the Build Menu in Visual Studio .Net.
2. Availability of 64 bit compilers targeting support for both Intel and AMD based hardware.
3. It offers enhanced support for Standard Template Library. STL is tuned for interacting with both managed code and data.
4. Support for a new category of type called Handle. Handles are pointers but use the Carat (^) symbol for access.

Visual C#:

1. C# Rapid App Development gets a major boost with .net framework 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005. The new features generics, iterators, anonymous methods, partial types and refactoring are some of the items which deserve to be highlighted.
2. Generics are a parallel for C++ templates. They allow high level of code reuse and further speed up the process of Software development.
3. Anonymous methods are dynamic methods which need not be pre-defined. They can be defined at the point of need. They can be used in place of event handler delegates.
4. Another huge boost could be the support for Refactoring. Refactoring is one among the basic tenets of Test Driven Development. Visual C# 2005 automates this feature by providing support for this feature.

Web Development:

1. Support for integrated database development with SQL Server 2005
2. Personal Web starter kit enabling easier web application development.
3. Multi browser support.

   The pre release express versions of downloads can be downloaded freely from the following Page at Microsoft site for evaluation.