ASP.NET 4 Unleashed

Understanding LINQ

Finally, we get to the topic of LINQ—the last topic we need to examine before we can dive into the true subject of this chapter: LINQ to SQL.

LINQ stands for Language Integrated Query and consists of a set of new language features added to both the C# and VB.NET languages that enable you to perform queries. LINQ enables you to use SQL query-like syntax within C# or VB.NET.

Here’s a simple example of a LINQ query:

var words = new List<string> {"zephyr", "apple", "azure"};var results = from w in words  where w.Contains("z")  select w;

The first statement creates a generic List of three strings named “words.” The second statement is the LINQ query. The LINQ query resembles a backward SQL statement. It retrieves all the words from ...