Introduction to LINQ
Language-Integrated Query (LINQ) is a groundbreaking innovation in Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework version 3.5 that bridges the gap between the world of objects and the world of data.
Traditionally, queries against data are expressed as simple strings without type checking at compile time or IntelliSense support. Furthermore, you have to learn a different query language for each type of data source: SQL databases, XML documents, various Web services, and so on. LINQ makes a query a first-class language construct in C# and Visual Basic. You write queries against strongly typed collections of objects by using language keywords and familiar operators. The following illustration shows a partially-completed LINQ query against a SQL Server database in C# with full type checking and IntelliSense support.
.png "LINQ query with Intellisense")
In Visual Studio you can write LINQ queries in Visual Basic or C# with SQL Server databases, XML documents, ADO.NET Datasets, and any collection of objects that supports IEnumerable or the generic IEnumerable<T> interface. LINQ support for the ADO.NET Entity Framework is also planned, and LINQ providers are being written by third parties for many Web services and other database implementations.
You can use LINQ queries in new projects, or alongside non-LINQ queries in existing projects. The only requirement is that the project target version 3.5 of the .NET Framework.
Next Steps
To learn more details about LINQ, start by becoming familiar with some basic concepts in the Getting Started section for your language of choice:
Then read the documentation for the LINQ technology in which you are interested:
SQL Server databases: LINQ to SQL
XML documents: LINQ to XML
ADO.NET Datasets: LINQ to DataSet
.NET collections, files, strings and so on: LINQ to Objects