Professional LINQ introduces experienced programmers and database developers to LINQ database queries in their native VB and C# languages. Some of the topics covered include: LINQ Queries LINQ and the Standard Query Operators Programming with XLinq Querying XML with XLinq Mixing XML and other data models DLinq and Queries LINQ over datasets Interoperating with ADO.NET LINQ and ASP.NET

“Charlie and Dinesh bring important skills to this project that enable them to show how LINQ works and the practical ways you can use it in your daily development process.” From the Foreword by Anders Hejlsberg LINQ is one of Microsoft’s most exciting, powerful new development technologies. Essential LINQ is the first LINQ book written by leading members of Microsoft’s LINQ and C# teams. Writing for architects, developers, and development managers, these Microsoft insiders share their intimate understanding of LINQ, revealing new patterns and best practices for getting the most out of it. Calvert and Kulkarni begin by clearly explaining how LINQ resolves the long-time “impedance mismatch” between object-oriented code and relational databases. Next, they show how LINQ integrates querying into C# as a “first-class citizen.” Using realistic code examples, they show how LINQ provides a strongly typed, IntelliSense-aware technology for working with data from any source, including SQL databases, XML files, and generic data structures. Calvert and Kulkarni carefully explain LINQ’s transformative, composable, and declarative capabilities. By fully illuminating these three concepts, the authors allow developers to discover LINQ’s full power. In addition to covering core concepts and hands-on LINQ development in C# with LINQ to Objects, LINQ to XML, LINQ to SQL, and LINQ to Entities, they also present advanced topics and new LINQ implementations developed by the LINQ community. This book • Explains the entire lifecycle of a LINQ project: design, development, debugging, and much more • Teaches LINQ from both a practical and theoretical perspective • Leverages C# language features that simplify LINQ development • Offers developers powerful LINQ query expressions to perform virtually any data-related task • Teaches how to query SQL databases for objects and how to modify those objects • Demonstrates effective use stored procedures and database functions with LINQ • Shows how to add business logic that reflects the specific requirements of your organization • Teaches developers to create, query, and transform XML data with LINQ • Shows how to transform object, relational, and XML data between each other • Offers best patterns and practices for writing robust, easy-to-maintain LINQ code

Language Integrated Query (LINQ) is Microsoft's new technology for powerful, general purpose data access. This technology provides a fully-integrated query language, available in both C# 3.0 and VB 9.0, for high-level data access against objects, relational databases, and XML documents. In this Short Cut you'll learn about LINQ and the proposed C# 3.0 extensions that support it. You'll also see how you can use LINQ and C# to accomplish a variety of tasks, from querying objects to accessing relational data and XML. Best of all, you'll be able to test the examples and run your own code using the latest LINQ CTP, available free from Microsoft. This Short Cut includes a complete reference to the standard LINQ query operators.

If you’ve asked yourself “Why can’t I develop database and XML queries in a language I already know?”, then Language INtegrated Query, or LINQ, is for you. LINQ For Dummies introduces you to LINQ and the .NET Framework technologies, so you can use LINQ to query any object, any data set, any kind of XML, and SQL Server—no questions asked. This plain-English guide gives you a thorough overview of LINQ, from understanding the tasks it performs to making LINQ work with both Visual Basic and Visual Studio 2005. It explains the four LINQ providers in the .NET Framework, the easiest ways to go about accessing data, and how to write more efficient applications with less code using LINQ. There’s also clear guidance on combining third-party providers with LINQ to create even more powerful apps. With this single, comprehensive guide, you’ll discover how to: Use one query language with all Microsoft languages Examine .NET language extensions and work with extension methods, partial methods, lambda expressions, and query expressions LINQ to DataSet operators, SQL server operations, XML API, or Active Directory Deal with databases — download and install the Northwind database, generate Northwind entity classes, and create the Northwind XML mapping file Create the partial class example, the partial method example, and the database modification example Use objects with LINQ Query databases in Visual Basic and C# As an added bonus, you can visit the companion Web site for LINQ examples in C# and Visual Basic. With LINQ For Dummies, you’ll link up with LINQ in no time and see how you can query almost anything! Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

This guide has the detail needed to grasp Microsoft's new querying technology, and concise explanations to help users learn it quickly. For those already applying LINQ, the book serves as an on-the-job reference.

LINQ represents a paradigm shift for developers used to an imperative/object oriented programming style, because LINQ draws on functional programming principles. Thinking in LINQ addresses the differences between these two by providing a set of succinct recipes arranged in several groups, including: Basic and extended LINQ operators Text processing Loop refactoring Monitoring code health Reactive Extensions (Rx.NET) Building domain-specific languages Using the familiar "recipes" approach, Thinking in LINQ shows you how to approach building LINQ-based solutions, how such solutions are different from what you already know, and why they’re better. The recipes cover a wide range of real-world problems, from using LINQ to replace existing loops, to writing your own Swype-like keyboard entry routines, to finding duplicate files on your hard drive. The goal of these recipes is to get you "thinking in LINQ," so you can use the techniques in your own code to write more efficient and concise data-intensive applications.

LINQ is the part of the .NET Framework that provides a generic approach to querying data from different data sources. It has quickly become the next must-have skill for .NET developers. Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in C# 2010 is all about code. Literally, this book starts with code and ends with code. Most books show the simplest examples of how to use a method, but they so rarely show how to use the more complex prototypes. This book is different. Demonstrating the overwhelming majority of LINQ operators and prototypes, it is a veritable treasury of LINQ examples. Rather than obscure the relevant LINQ principles in code examples by focusing on a demonstration application you have no interest in writing, this book cuts right to the chase of each LINQ operator, method, or class. However, where complexity is necessary to truly demonstrate an issue, the examples are right there in the thick of it. For example, code samples demonstrating how to handle concurrency conflicts actually create concurrency conflicts so you can step through the code and see them unfold. Face it, most technical books, while informative, are dull. LINQ need not be dull. Written with a sense of humor, this book will attempt to entertain you on your journey through the wonderland of LINQ and C# 2010.