LINQ For Dummies®

Chapter 14. Ten Ways to Improve LINQ Development

In This Chapter

• Simplifying code using LINQ tools

• Creating self-documenting code using LINQ

• Performing code pattern analysis

• Defining a code snippet database

• Using LINQ to find other development resources

• Understanding data format using LINQ

• Discovering usage trends

• Creating your own LINQ library

• Trading useful LINQ queries with others

• Performing compilation and code analysis

Throughout this book, you see a myriad of ways in which you can use LINQ to create applications. Of course, knowing you can use a technology and understanding that it will improve your development experience are two different things. By now, you know that LINQ can help you produce shorter code, but this chapter helps you discover why shorter code doesn't translate into harder to read code. LINQ is quite easy to read, and because it uses the same form with every query, it provides a solid method for creating self-documenting code. Anyone who sees one LINQ query can easily read most other LINQ queries of the same complexity. The first question that this chapter answers, therefore, is whether LINQ provides something of value to you as an individual developer — it answers the questions of whether easy to use and easy to read translate into meaningless technology.

The first question begs a second question, the one that most developers ask about coding efficiently and maximizing potential. This chapter also helps you get the most out of LINQ. After you begin working with LINQ, ...