Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008

LINQ is the project name for a set of extensions to the .NET Framework that provide a generic approach to querying data from different data sources. LINQ will premier in Visual Studio 2008, and will become the next must?have skill for .NET developers. For more information about LINQ, you can check out www.linqdev.com.

Starting with code and ending with code and tailored for the VB language, Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008 is a veritable treasury of LINQ examples that will save you hours, even days, of research time. Keeping you focused on the relevant LINQ principles, expert author Joseph Rattz, Jr., and VB specialist Dennis Hayes provide examples for complex models that you won?t find anywhere else.

In most books, you?ll find plenty of simple examples to demonstrate how to use a method, but authors rarely show how to use the more complex prototypes. Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008 is different. Demonstrating the overwhelming majority of LINQ operators and protoypes, Joseph Rattz, Jr., and Dennis Hayes condense their extensive experience and expertise into a desk companion that is essential for any serious .NET professional.

Rather than obscure the relevant LINQ principles in code examples by focusing on a demonstration application you have no interest in writing, this book cuts right to the chase of each LINQ operator, method, or class. However, where complexity is necessary to truly demonstrate an issue, the examples are right there in the thick of it. For example, code samples demonstrating how to handle concurrency conflicts actually create concurrency conflicts so you can step through the code and see them unfold.

Most books tell you about the simple stuff, while few books warn you of the pitfalls. Where Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008 returns your investment is in the hours, and sometimes days, spent by the authors determining why something may not work as expected. Sometimes this results in an innocent?looking paragraph that may take you a minute to read and understand, but took days to research and explain.

Face it, most technical books while informative, are dull. LINQ need not be dull. Written with a sense of humor, this book will attempt to entertain you on your journey through the wonderland of LINQ and VB 2008.

What you?ll learn How to leverage all the new LINQ?relevant VB 2008 language features including extension methods, lambda expressions, anonymous data types, and partial methods How to use LINQ to Objects to query in?memory data collections such as arrays, ArrayLists, and Lists to retrieve the data you want Why some queries are deferred, how a deferred query can bite you, and how you can make deferred queries work for you How to use LINQ to XML to revolutionize your creation, manipulation, and searching of XML data How to query DataSets with LINQ to DataSet so you can coexist with legacy code and use LINQ to query databases other than SQL Server How to query databases with LINQ to SQL, write your own entity classes, and understand how to handle concurrency conflicts
Who is this book for

This book is written for the proficient VB developer, but you do not need to be up on all the latest VB features to understand the material. When you finish this book, you will be up on all the latest VB features.

About the Apress Pro Series

The Apress Pro series books are practical, professional tutorials to keep you on and moving up the professional ladder.

You have gotten the job, now you need to hone your skills in these tough competitive times. The Apress Pro series expands your skills and expertise in exactly the areas you need. Master the content of a Pro book, and you will always be able to get the job done in a professional development project. Written by experts in their field, Pro series books from Apress give you the hard?won solutions to problems you will face in your professional programming career.

User review
Practical test: find docs on ToLookup()
I haven't bought the book, but I browsed it at the bookstore and was really impressed. I've tried to find a useful example of creating an ILookup using ToLookup() and this book is the only thing that comes close. It has four pages on this method, covering all the overloads. Go ahead, google for `VB.NET LINQ ToLookup`. See if you come up with anything useful. By comparison, the Manning Press book on LINQ in C# has two one-line references in the book and no examples. The Microsoft code samples with the compilers have no examples. LINQPad has no ToLookup examples.

It's a very narrow comparison, but apt: this book covers all the LINQ topics and provides intelligent examples you can work with.


User review
Expected the worst and found the best
I signed up for the alpha program at Apress for this book in February only to find out that they only had the shell that was worthless. In desperation for linq to be explained I bought the C# version which while ok left a lot of VB stuff to the imagination. After it came out I had to contact them to get the download for the release version as they didn't email it to me and it wasn't on their website.

So first, don't get pulled in to any alpha programs with Apress. They did finally send a link to me and I have been reading it repeatedly over the last week. The book refers to his blog which is a joke but I wasn't buying a blog.

Now to the book. It completely explains linq using vb using examples and that's what I wanted. The syntax for all the different query operators is hard to find and if shows them all. Overloads and all.

It covers all the flavors of linq and not like a red headed step child like the other linq books. So if you write in VB I think this is one of the few books you would really want to have. Organization is great, the examples are not so trivial as to be worthless or so complex as to be confusing. Explanations and suggestions for use are straightforward. My weakest area was linq to xml and that chapter personally helped me out the most.

My one suggestion to all authors is have more examples that all show complex objects that are more than doubles and strings. All you need to do is have two property objects so the syntax is plain on using the examples in more real world coding. This author uses a list of presidents for a lot of the examples. How much better would the examples have been with a name and their birthday as the example objects being queried.




User review
Excellent book poor support
I have been waiting on this book ever since the C# version came out and I was not disappointed. Virtually every aspect of LINQ in VB is covered starting with the language additions in VB 2008 such as Expression trees, Lambda expressions, etc. Linq to objects, Linq to XML, Linq to SQL, and Linq to dataset are all covered. I like the code style as well. It's not a big case study or application but succinct snippets that illustrate the authors point. However, support for this book is poor in my opinion, hence the title of the review. If it exists, I am unable to find a source code download anywhere. APress offers a $10 EBook in the book but I have not been able to access this offer. The web site says it's not offered. Finally, the APress web site had this book listed as an Alpha book days after it was for sale on Amazon.

So the lack of support marred an otherwise good experience. But I could not be happier with the book.