Chapter 6. Language Integrated Query (LINQ)

A key element of almost any application is data. Inevitably, data needs to be listed, sorted, analyzed, or displayed in some fashion. It is the nature of what we, as programmers, do. We accomplish this by manually performing the appropriate operations and relying on the current functionality provided by the existing .NET Framework. We also rely heavily on the use of external data sources, such as SQL Server or XML files.

Before LINQ, writing code to query a data source required the query to be sent to the data source as a string where it would be executed. This resulted in a separation of functionality and control between the application and the data. The .NET Framework has always provided functionality ...

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