Customer Reviews

LINQ Programming

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book covers just about anything you'd want to know about LINQ. The examples given are really useful. As a reader you have the option of just reading the first part of each chapter which covers a particular aspect of LINQ or diving in deep in by examining what happens at the CLR level (covered in the latter part of each chapter). LINQ to Objects, LINQ to XML and LINQ to SQL are all presented but the author goes further showing how to extend LINQ for your own custom needs. It is comprehensive enough to keep as a reference, so I got the Kindle version in order to keep it nearby at work.

With just 300+ pages, the book is loaded with code examples for different scenarios. Easy to read, no complicated details.

-Review by Hoiyin Ip, OC.NET User Group member

Compared to most .Net developers I am a relative novice. I don't develop in .Net full time. I'm a Java developer by day and do some consulting in .Net on nights and weekends. My experiences with .Net so far have been some basic ASP.Net web sites with SQL Server as the back end database. Most of my experience has been with Visual Studio 2008. I wanted to review this book to assist me in coming up to speed in LINQ and Visual Studio 2008. I started this will little or no exposure to LINQ. I just knew that it was a new programming tool from Microsoft to make accessing databases easier for the .Net developer. My goal from reading this book was to walk away with basic knowledge of using LINQ. Now having read the book and done the exercises that are included in it, I can say that I do have a basic understanding of how to use LINQ. I liked the fact that the author, Joe Mayo, chose to include exercises for the reader to do along with reading his book. I'm of the school that learns by doing, not by simply reading about new technologies, so this was very helpful for me in terms of understanding the concepts the author was discussing.

I got through all of the exercises except one that I had trouble with. I emailed the author about my troubles and he responded the same day and informed me that I needed to install Visual Studio 2008 service pack two to get the new functionality that I need for the exercise. I thought it was very nice of him to get back to me so quickly! I did have some trouble due to my lack of experience with some of the more advanced features of the C# programming language, (partial classes and partial methods, Lambda expressions etc). None of these issues were show stoppers in getting through the material in the book.

I was very impressed with the LINQ technology. You can just drag and drop a table from your database onto the page in Visual Studio and it builds a great deal of code for you. It builds the code that you will use to insert and update your data in that table. Very impressive! Microsoft has come a long way in terms of making a developer's job easier.

I had a really hard time with the syntax that LINQ uses. I'm an old Oracle developer and it took me a while to get used to this SQL server way of writing queries, but LINQ queries look entirely different than what I'm used to and it is not intuitive to me.

I'm used to:
SELECT first_name
FROM Users WHERE last_name = `Jones'

The same query in LINQ is something like:
FirstNames =
FROM names in Users
WHERE last_name = `Jones'
SELECT first_name

I'm having a really hard time with this new syntax but I will get used to it as I get more experience and it has nothing to do with the book or the author, it has to do with the technology of LINQ.

I thought the book was well written and well organized. It's obvious to me the Mr. Mayo has a great deal of knowledge and experience with LINQ and .Net development in general and it shows in his book. I think this is a good book for experienced .Net developers. I think I would have gotten more out of the book if I had a little more .Net programming experience. This is not a book for a beginner in .Net, Visual Studio 2008, or Database development. There are other beginner level books more specific to those topics where beginners should go.

Joe has a blockbuster on his hands: LINQ PROGRAMMING scores big. Clear, concise examples abound throughout the book and make the transition to LINQ a no brainer. Thumbs way up! :)

Joe Mayo does a fantastic job explaining software. On every page of his books I think to myself "Oh that is how it works". Just the right depth so you can understand how to do it yourself. His books are well thought out without overlaps.

I have just read the first few chapters and I have to admit this is by far the best introduction to linq I have seen. The language is so friendly and the examples so crisp and to the point and easy to understand. So if you are looking for a brief but deep introduction to linq give this book a try

The book is wriiten in simple English, which is a big plus for the book. However, the source code is unavailable, which is a big negative. If you read a programming book like a novel, then it may be ok, otherwise buy something else.