CoffeeScript is a small, aesthetic language that compiles into JavaScript. There are lots of nice tools and ways to integrate CoffeeScript into various Web Development IDE's, but not until recently have we known of a couple of ways to do this in Visual Studio 2010.
If you are a Microsoft Web Developer using Visual Studio 2010 and interested in using CoffeeScript to write JavaScript, Mindscape has created a free Visual Studio Plugin, called Web Workbench, that allows one to use CoffeeScript, Less, and Sass in your ASP.NET WebForm and ASP.NET MVC Websites.
Per the Mindscape Website, there are five reasons to use Web Workbench in Visual Studio 2010 for all your CoffeeScript, Less, and Sass needs:
Super easy to use
Install the extension and you're done. No need to setup post build events or output generators. Save the files and they will generate the associated CSS or JS files as needed. Easy!
Syntax Highlighting
By extending Visual Studio, the Web Workbench will give you Sass, Less and Coffee Script syntax highlighting. A great way to help learn the syntax and better understand the code you're writing.
Intellisense
Visual Studio offers fantastic intellisense for developers and we've worked hard to bring intellisense to the Sass and Less files when you're editing.
Free to use
You're welcome to use this software for free. There is no paid version and it was built on the shoulders of giants so it seems only fair that our experiments be free as well.
Use just the bits you want
You don't have to use all three supported languages. If you only want Coffee Script, or only wanted to use Less, then by all means just use those parts. It's all in one install but there's no reliance on each other in your applications.
Learn more about Web Workbench on the Mindscape Website.
Check out CoffeeScript and Orchard CMS Module Development, too.
If you're interested in a CoffeeScript book, you may be interested in CoffeeScript: Accelerated JavaScript Development from Pragmatic Programmers.