Microsoft LINQ Web Hosting
Language Integrated Query (LINQ, pronounced "link") is a Microsoft .NET Framework
component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages using a
syntax reminiscent of SQL. Many of the concepts that LINQ has introduced were originally
tested in Microsoft's research project. LINQ was released as a part of .NET Framework
3.5 on November 19, 2007.
LINQ defines a set of query operators that can be used to query, project and filter
data in arrays, enumerable classes, XML, relational database, and third party data
sources. While it allows any data source to be queried, it requires that the data
be encapsulated as objects. So, if the data source does not natively store data
as objects, the data must be mapped to the object domain. Queries written using
the query operators are executed either by the LINQ query processing engine or,
via an extension mechanism, handed over to LINQ providers which either implement
a separate query processing engine or translate to a different format to be executed
on a separate data store (such as on a database server as SQL queries). The results
of a query are returned as a collection of in-memory objects that can be enumerated.
