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 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 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!