Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008 (Expert's Voice in .NET) [Paperback]

Joseph C. Rattz (Author), Dennis Hayes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1430216441 | ISBN-13: 978-1430216445 | Publication Date: August 10, 2009 | Edition: 1

Since its release in November 2007 Language Integrated Query (LINQ) has become an instant success amongst the .NET programming community. Its ability to allow programmers to interact with their databases in a similar manner to that with which they interact with their code has simplified architectures, speeded development, and increased productivity. It is being adopted at a rapid rate and – as part of Microsoft’s core architecture – will continue to be adopted well into the future.

This book is a translation of Apress’ market-leading ‘Pro LINQ in C# 2008’ that is being produced specifically for the Visual Basic (VB) programming community. It is not a direct copy of the C# edition, but has been tailored to the VB language and covers functionality that differs, or was not available, to the C# programmer. This makes it unique in this market place. It is being revised by Joseph C. Rattz, Jr., the author of the C# edition, with the assistance of Dennis Hayes, a Visual Basic specialist.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joseph C. Rattz, Jr., unknowingly began his career in software development in 1990 when a friend asked him for assistance writing an ANSI text editor named ANSI Master for the Commodore Amiga. A hangman game (The Gallows) soon followed. From these compiled Basic programs, he moved on to programming in C for more speed and power.

Joe then developed applications that were sold to JumpDisk, an Amiga disk magazine, as well as Amiga World magazine. Due to developing in a small town on a fairly isolated platform, Joe learned all the wrong ways to write code. It was while trying to upgrade his poorly written applications that he gained respect for the importance of easily maintainable code. It was love at first sight when Joe spotted a source–level debugger in use for the first time.

Two years later, Joe obtained his first software development opportunity at Policy Management Systems Corporation as an entry–level programmer developing a client/server insurance application for OS/2 and Presentation Manager. Through the years, he added C++, Unix, Java, ASP, ASP.NET, C#, HTML, DHTML, and XML to his skill set while developing applications for SCT, DocuCorp, IBM and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, CheckFree, NCR, EDS, Delta Technology, Radiant Systems, and the Genuine Parts Company. Joe enjoys the creative aspects of user interface design, and he appreciates the discipline necessary for server–side development. But, given his druthers, his favorite development pastime is debugging code.

Joe can be found working for the Genuine Parts Company—the parent company of NAPA—in the Automotive Parts Group Information Systems department, where he works on his baby, the Storefront web site. This site for NAPA provides the stores a view into their accounts and data on a network of AS/400s.

Product Details

• Paperback: 713 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (August 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430216441
• ISBN-13: 978-1430216445
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #631,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expected the worst and found the best, September 9, 2009

By 

D. White - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008 (Expert's Voice in .NET) (Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book poor support, August 21, 2009

By 

W.E.B "Developer" (New Orleans) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008 (Expert's Voice in .NET) (Paperback)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Reference for learning LINQ for VB 2008 & VB 2010 BY FAR, January 8, 2011

By 

Bryan Hoffpauir - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008 (Expert's Voice in .NET) (Paperback)

I've read a few other books on LINQ and they have for the most part been helpful, but most examples Iv'e found focus on C#. This reference is beyond comprehensive and covers a lot of great information with ALL examples in VB. It IS written for the 2008 version of Visual Studio, but I've found nothing so far in testing in the 2010 version that causes any of the examples to fail. YMMV, of course.

The thing that struck me most when I opened this book was that the very first page of text (technically page 3 in my paperback) was code. There are few programming tomes that literally start off and end with code, and this one was worth every penny!

This book is definitely a great reference manual for advanced VB programmers, but it should also serve as an excellent tutorial / self-learning resource for intermediate VB programmers looking to learn more about LINQ as well.