LINQ is a uniform programming model for any kind of data. LINQ enables you to query and manipulate data with a consistent model that is independent from data sources.
LINQ stands for Language Integrated Query
LINQ can be used to query against any kind of data collection like Database, XML file, ADS and so on, technically speaking any class that implements the IEnumerable or IQueryable interface to know about the difference between these two interfaces kindly visit my post
currently LINQ comes in different flavors like
- LINQ to Objects
- LINQ to ADO.NET
- LINQ to XML
- LINQ to Entities
LINQ is supported in both C# 3.0 and VB 9.0 (.NET 3.5 Framework)
To have a better understanding of LINQ you need have basic understanding on C# language features like
- Generics
- Anonymous Delegates
- Local Type Inference
- Lambda Expressions
- Extension Methods
- Object Initialization Expressions
- Anonymous Types
