SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 021

SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 021

 Twenty-one. Twenty one. Isn't this a lot of fun.

According to Simon Sabin, this feature got the biggest applause at the PDC 2005 Keynote on Tuesday, 9/13.

It’s a little thing called LINQ.

“What’s that? Some Linux thing?”

Ha ha very funny.  No.  It stands for “Language-Integrated Query” 

It’s “a codename for a set of extensions to the .NET Framework that encompass language-integrated query, set, and transform operations. It extends C# and Visual Basic with native language syntax for queries and provides class libraries to take advantage of these capabilities.”

“…Huh?”

That’s what I said at first.  But looking into it further, I see that it provides new constructs.. ways… for querying data using the C# or Visual Basic languages.  These are part of the new CLR (Common Language Runtime) that comes as part of both Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005.

“Sounds like developer stuff to me!”

Yep.  But it’s all about flexible, powerful, intuitive ways to work with data.  And because the CLR is also part of SQL Server 2005, you can program against it there, too.

Simon has a more involved follow-up post about what he tried with it, here.

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