Professional LINQ
Chapter One
Project LINQ
I often hear the questions, "What is LINQ?," "What does it do?," and "Why do we need it?"
The answer to the first question (and subsequently the other two questions) is that the Language
Integrated Query (LINQ) is a set of standard query operators that provide the underlying query
architecture for the navigation, filtering, and execution operations of nearly every kind of data
source, such as XML (using LINQ to XML, previously known as XLINQ), relational data (using
LINQ to SQL, previously known as DLINQ), ADO.NET DataSets (using LINQ to DataSet), and
in-memory collections.
The best way to begin understanding this wonderful new technology is to take a look at some
history and background on how and why LINQ came to be.
Although the public first became aware of LINQ early in the fall of 2005, LINQ had been in
development since early 2003. The overall LINQ goal was to make it easier for developers to interact
with SQL and XML, primarily because there exists a disconnect between relational data (databases ... read full excerpt from Professional LINQ ebook
