Customer Reviews

LINQ in Action

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is a pure pleasure to read. The presentation of content is awesome. They breakdown code in a new refreshing way that I have not seen before. Maybe it is done in all the Action Books from Manning, but this is the first I have read. They use code annotations to show what the code is doing at all the key points, highlighting important concepts. The beginner will benefit greatly from this, as will the experienced developer getting into the new C# language features.

The book presents both VB.NET and C# code examples. This is definitely cool. It is something that has been lost with many publishers. I guess the publishers know they can possibly sell 2 of the same book if they make one for each language. Yeah, yeah, I know... you should be able to easily bounce back and forth between languages with no effort. Well since I don't allow VB.NET on any of my projects, I rarely get to see it since books no longer present both languages. So this is a refreshing change. I still have to deal with inherited projects, so it is nice to have a book that contains my language of choice, but makes available the VB.NET syntax incase I need it.

The book has an awesome introduction covering the history of LINQ, which also presents all the problems that LINQ solves and the design goals of linq.

The book covers ever new feature in the .NET 3.5 languages (C# and VB.NET) that were needed in order to implement LINQ. They include Implicitly typed local variables, Object initializers, Lambda expressions, Extension methods, and Anonymous types.

The book covers LINQ to XML, LINQ to SQL, and LINQ to Objects in great detail. They also offer a bonus chapter from the Manning Site for LINQ to Datasets.

One of my favorite sections was Performance Considerations. They do a great job covering tradeoffs.

The book winds down with a chapter on extending LINQ and how link fits into an n-tier architecture.

The downloadable code is very well organized and is very usable. The authors have a great support site.

I highly recommend any developer moving into .NET 3.5 add this book to their library. It will arm you with everything you need to produce production level code.

Why should you get this book?
I started following the LINQ development while it was in beta stage and I was trying to find bits and pieces, here and there to make sense out of this technology. LINQ is something different than other technologies when it comes to learning it. It's like walking down a slope. If you don't follow the proper path, you can slip, in any moment. What do I mean by that? For MSFT to develop and build LINQ, they had to build and evolve a series of other technologies that will be used in LINQ. LINQ is developed on the top of a series of other technologies within .Net framework and the C# (VB also) language to be able to do what it does.
The sequence you learn these other technologies is as important as learning LINQ in the first place. By properly learning the foundation correctly, you will then see how sweet and powerful LINQ can and will be.

Now, why this book? Among all the materials and books I've read on this subject, this is the only book that truly follow this path. You follow the book, you learn LINQ. It's as simple as this!

I was involve with the "Early Access" program on this book and I saw how these three authors worked to make it better and better. They listened to readers and made it better. I wish other authors would take the time to write their book as well as this book. I give it Five stars!!!

The book is very well-written and very comprehensive. The authors made a great job at writing a book that can be read from cover to cover. The book begins with some reminders on LINQ history to understand where LINQ is coming from and why it is making life as a .NET developers more easier. Then come the language explanations, the part where you will see how C# and VB.NET have been tweaked to support LINQ syntax (btw, the book covers both C# and VB.NET LINQ and it is great to compare the different choices made). This part is really essential if you are considering using LINQ. Indeed, LINQ is coming from functional languages, something that most of us are not acquainted with, and it is disturbing at the beginning to understand things such as deferred execution. I found that a lot of energy has been put in pedagogy for readers that come with a classical OOP background.

Then comes the Part 2 on LINQ to object. This part is also vital because you will quickly realize that LINQ is about to definitely change the way your C# or VB.NET code looks like. Most of the algorithms we code rely intensively on collections and LINQ to object represents an incredibly powerful syntax to work with collections. Here also the authors worked really hard to explain properly the 'why/when/how to' things and to anticipate just in time the questions you might have.

Then comes part 3 and 4, on the 2 major LINQ flavors: LINQ to SQL and LINQ to XML. They represent a great opportunity to see some real-world use of what you've learnt in the 2 first parts. What I really liked here is that the authors anticipate the various scenarios (both common and advanced) you will face by using these 2 implementations of LINQ.

Then comes the great final, the part 5 that focus on how to extend LINQ to your own needs. LINQ is coming with several different extension points, from the single operator rewriting that will take you 2 minutes to write to the complete query framework that will take months to be written. This part explains and compares all these possibilities and can, alone, motivate you to buy the book if you plan to extend LINQ. LINQ extensibility is followed by another great chapter named 'LINQ in every layer' that put up together all knowledge presented until there to see how real-world applications are impacted by LINQ.

Something I would like to underline is that authors kept an objective eyes on LINQ. They warn you about the temptation to use LINQ for everything. What is awesome is that in a wide range of cases, LINQ represents both a new powerful syntax and also offers optimal performance. But for some other cases LINQ will execute much more slowly than a good old foreach style programming.

I highly recommend learning and using LINQ now because a lot of things is going to happen soon with LINQ, with things such as Parallel LINQ (PLINQ, to write queries that will execute on several threads at a time) , LINQ to Xsd (to write strongly typed XML queries), the ADO.NET Entities Framework (the Microsoft answer to O/R mapping) and more...

After a very good introduction about "what" and "why" LINQ, you will discover how and why C# 3.0 and VB 9.0 languages have been enhanced in Visual Studio 2008.

The rest is dedicated on all implementations provides by LINQ with Visual Studio 2008 (Notice the chapter about DataSet is available only on the web). But the "desert" is in chapter 12, where you discover how to design and build a new provider for LINQ: LINQ to Amazon !!!

Fabrice Marguerie, Steve Eichert and Jim Wooley have succeeded a excellent book that everybody must have when LINQ technologies are involved.

This book which is without doubt the best way to learn and use LINQ every day.

"LINQ in Action", published by Manning, is by far the best book available on Linq, both for those new to Linq and those already following it. The authors, Fabrice Marguerie, Steve Eichert, and Jim Wooley, have done a fabulous job of explaining Linq from the basics to the advanced. They even made it enjoyable to read, which makes it one of the best .Net books ever!

The authors' introductory chapter shows us right away that this book is different by presenting a perfect balance of the problem, the history, and the solution. Linq is a huge subject, but the authors are up to it, and they quickly whet the readers appetite for all of Linq -- Objects, Sql, and Xml. We then get a very thorough explanation of the new language enhancements that Linq relies on, but which the authors clearly show to have uses of their own. The chapter on Linq's building blocks, covering sequences, query operators, query expressions, and expression trees, was especially instructive to me, even though I've followed Linq from the alpha days, so again I'm sure this book has something for everyone. The book then covers Linq to Objects very thoroughly, including common scenarios and performance considerations that other books never consider.

The book then progresses to three chapters on Linq to Sql, which are of course my favorite since I'm really into O/R Mapping. The authors cover not just the basics to get beginners up to speed, but they also cover far more advanced content than I was expecting. For instance, they discuss not just the designer to setup mappings, but also the SqlMetal tool, and manual mappings using either attributes or xml. They also discuss the various concurrency options, the entity life cycle, inheritance, and more. The authors then give us three chapters on Linq to Xml, which again have something for everyone -- I especially like the chapter on common scenarios. The book finishes with a very thorough chapter on extending Linq, with a Linq to Amazon example, and a chapter that ties it all together with a real-world example that was gradually put together during the course of the entire book.

The authors also provide additional support and material online, including a bonus chapter on Linq to Datasets. There is also downloadable code in both C# and VB, although the book actually shows both languages in most cases, and always points out the differences when there are differences between them.

Disclaimer: I personally know Jim and have seen him present on Linq multiple times, Steve was a user of my WilsonORMapper, even contributing to it, and I've known Fabrice in the online world for quite some time too -- but I did very much enjoy and learn even more from their most excellent book on Linq.

I am an avid reader of .NET books so it's pretty hard to impress me. But the authors of this book have gone so far beyond expectations that I simply had to take note. First, this is one of the best researched books you'll ever see. Second, it's extremely well written and easy to read. Third, they've really dominated this complex subject! They have anticipated all your questions and you'll see the answers within the text. You definitely won't need to turn anywhere else for LINQ info.

This book is refreshing because it's all new and original. They didn't simply regurgitate the MSDN documentation, and their examples are clear and relevant. And the authors frequently participate in online forums and they offer great support for the book. This is not a "hit and run" orphan book!

After reading the excellent ASP.NET AJAX In Action title from the same publisher, I was doubtful if lightning could strike twice. But it did. Buy this book!

This book is the fruit of a collaborative work. In a time of globalization, where ideas know no frontiers, this is a refreshing take on a hot topic like LINQ.

We have here three well known experts in their fields (name of the authors here) coming together to produce an excellent text book on LINQ.
The introduction is an appetizer for what comes next.

LINQ is not a language you will fall in love with at first sight. It demands that you get to know it but when you do you're hooked.

In this book we get a good summary outlining why we can't live without LINQ anymore. Also, a nice touch from the authors is that the code is written in both C# and VB.NET. It's a pity that this is not continued throughout the book. However, according to the writers, all the samples used in the book are available for download in both languages. So guys you are forgiven!

Because LINQ introduces new features, a full chapter is dedicated to C# 3.0 and VB.NET 9.0 enhancements. This chapter is for me the weakest part of the book. Even if LINQ in action is not intended for beginners, I would suggest to the readers to skip this section and come back to it later, because it will give intermediate developers the idea that LINK is only comprehendible by experts. It is too complicated too early in the book.

The rest of the book is cleverly divided into roughly three parts: LINQ for objects, LINQ for XML and LINQ for SQL. It is a very good idea indeed to have pushed the SQL part further down, after all, LINQ is much more than a mere language for relational databases. It is an advanced technology with many capabilities. For example, Object paradigm is at the heart of LINQ and this is well demonstrated throughout the book.
To conclude I would warmly recommend this book but for intermediate developers not for real beginners because some of the explanations introduced by the authors are not for the faint hearted!
I also give credit to the authors for creating from a blank canvas something as colorful as this book about LINQ. A hard challenge when you consider that nobody has really fully embraced the concept in a commercial application to date.

It's also a first book for Fabrice Marguerie, who I know well by his blog. Fabrice is a strong minded person, an expert in Object Relational Mapping, which gives you even more reason to purchase this book.

This book is a fantastic resource on LINQ. Yeah sure I know two of the Authors (Steve and Fabrice) so I'm a little biased, but that just makes me happier that they did such a good job covering LINQ.

The thing I liked best is that the book doesn't talk down to the reader, has great depth, and somehow is still easy to read.

I've seen a few better computer books, and many worse. This is a pretty good presentation on Linq.

The Good:

- Nice balance of prose with many code snippets.

- Good pacing of the material, although I might like a bit more detail in some spots, less in others. Occasionally there's a little too much non-Linq content, such as explaining practices that are well known to most professional developers. There is also too much finishing one section by saying what's coming in the next section - unnecessary because it's obvious what's next - the next section's header is staring right at you. At times I found myself mentally editing the prose, and removing superfluous clauses and sentences unrelated to Linq. Fortunately the amount of this is not that annoying, but it could be tighter.

- Snippets often have short annotations physically next to the relevant lines of code (yay!), making it easy to see what's going on. When the explanation is lengthy, it follows the snippet, instead of sitting next to it, which is harder to understand. I'd like to see side-by-side, code with annotations throughout, which is understandably not easy to do.

- Code snippets are also in the downloadable projects - they mostly work. I couldn't get either Visual Studio or SqlMetal to recognize the stored procedures in the book's database, owing to some kind of protection/login problem using SqlExpress. No biggie, as I'm sure I can get these tools to recognize SPs in my own databases.

- Support website is good, I posted a comment and got a reply from the authors within a day or so.

- DoublePlusGood: Authors include many links to supporting articles, downloadable goodies, etc.

- I feel like I gained a good grasp of the material, and am well positioned to start doing serious work with it.

The Not-So-Good:

- While I saw dozens of lambda expressions, I still don't think I could explain to someone what they are, in a sentence or two. Maybe I missed it, but I expect a book to provide a lucid explanation here, especially on such a key concept, instead of having me infer what's going on by seeing examples.

- The section on Linq-To-Sql is probably the most turgid/dense of the whole book. The author obviously knows his stuff, but there were a few paragraphs in this section I reread numerous times, and still could not get what he was trying to say. The rest of the book is relatively lucid, which is no small thing, given the complexity of the subject.

At times I wondered what I missed by not buying the Apress alternative ("Pro Linq" by Rattz). It's a longer book, has more Amazon ratings, and I like the TOC. I also like the fact that it's written by one author, although "Linq In Action" doesn't suffer a whole lot by having had several people contribute to it. If I get into a jam with Linq, and can't get help from the usual sources, I may purchase Rattz as well.

Linq in Action is a clear and deep presentation of a technology that, even in its first incarnation, is increasing the productivity of programmers, and setting an even higher standard for dynamic websites and programs. The authors, who were instrumental in the development of Linq, proceed in an intuitive path from the basics of the technology, all the way to very sophisticated ideas and examples. The authors also participate online to answer questions and add even more material for an even more through presentation. I recommend this book for any developer or aspiring developer.

Paolo