Microsoft® Visual Basic® 2010 Developer’s Handbook

Chapter 24. Introduction to LINQ (Language-Integrated Query)

In this chapter:
Getting Started with LINQ
The Where Method
The Select Method
Combining LINQ Extension Methods
Simplified Use of LINQ Extension Methods with the LINQ Query Syntax

Programs process data. In a manner of speaking, the whole purpose of programs can be reduced to this common denominator.

However, not all data is the same. Data might all be the same in principle, but developers spend a great deal of time transforming data values to make them usable. These transformations are time-intensive. Here’s an example:

• When you load data from a XML file, you need to parse the data, extracting it from the original XML format and placing it into another format, saving the data you need ...