Inline Initialization of Variables in SQL Server 2008

Before 2008, variables could only be assigned with a value using SELECT or SET statements. There was no way to assign any value to a variable at the time when it is declared. With 2008, Microsoft has removed this shortcoming and introduced this feature. This inline initialization can be done using literal or any function.
E.g.

DECLARE @myINTVar INT = 3
DECLARE @myVARCHARVar VARCHAR = LEFT('Shujaat',1)
SELECT @myINTVar, @myVARCHARVar