C# 4.0 How-To

Chapter 21. LINQ

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Query an Object Collection

• Order the Results

• Filter a Collection

• Get a Collection of a Portion of Objects (Projection)

• Perform a Join

• Query XML

• Create XML

• Query the Entity Framework

• Query a Web Service (LINQ to Bing)

• Speed Up Queries with PLINQ (Parallel LINQ)

Language Integrated Query, or LINQ, is a flexible, SQL-like query language designed to give the programmer consistent syntax to query any data set, whether database, XML, or just plain objects. What’s more, it’s usable from the comfort and safety of your everyday C# file.

Note

LINQ is a language that merely looks like SQL, and only superficially. If you’re familiar with SQL, you’ll notice that the various parts of the query appear ...