Chapter 3. LINQ building blocks

In chapter 2, we reviewed the language additions made to C# and VB.NET: the basic elements and language innovations that make LINQ possible.

In this chapter, you’ll discover new concepts unique to LINQ. Each of these concepts builds on the new language features we presented in chapter 2. You’ll now begin to see how everything adds up when used by LINQ.

We’ll start with a rundown of the language features we’ve already covered. We’ll then present new features that form the key elements of the LINQ foundation. In particular, we’ll detail the language extensions and key concepts. This includes sequences, the standard query operators, query expressions, and expression trees. We’ll finish this chapter by taking a look at how LINQ extends the .NET Framework with new assemblies and namespaces.

At the end of this chapter, you should have a good overview of all the fundamental building blocks on which LINQ relies and how they fit together. With this foundation, you’ll be ready to work on LINQ code.

3.1. How LINQ extends .NET

3.2. Introducing sequences

3.3. Introducing query operators

3.4. Introducing query expressions

3.5. Introducing expression trees

3.6. LINQ DLLs and namespaces

3.7. Summary