I loved this feature. I have always wanted this feature to be present in SQL Server. Last time when I met developers from Microsoft SQL Server, I had talked about this feature. I think this feature saves some time but make the code more readable.
---- SQL Server 2005 Way DECLARE @MyVar INT SET @MyVar = 5 SELECT @MyVar AS TestVar GO ---- SQL Server 2008 Way DECLARE @MyVar INT = 5 SELECT @MyVar AS TestVar GO
Reference : Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)