Programming Microsoft® LINQ in Microsoft .NET Framework 4

Chapter 2. LINQ Syntax Fundamentals

With Microsoft Language Integrated Query (LINQ), you can query and manage sequences of items (objects, entities, database records, XML nodes, and so on) within your software solutions, using a common syntax and a unique programming language—regardless of the nature of the items handled. The key feature of LINQ is its integration with widely used programming languages, an integration made possible by the use of a syntax common to all kinds of content.

As described in Chapter 1, LINQ provides a basic infrastructure for many different implementations of querying engines, including LINQ to Objects, LINQ to SQL, LINQ to DataSet, LINQ to Entities, LINQ to XML, LINQ to SharePoint, and so on. All these query extensions ...