Language Integrated Query

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Language Integrated Query (LINQ, pronounced "link") is a Microsoft .NET Framework component that adds native data querying capabilities to .NET languages, originally released as a major part of .NET Framework 3.5 in 2007.

LINQ extends the language by the addition of query expressions, which are akin to SQL statements, and can be used to conveniently extract and process data from arrays, enumerable classes, XML documents, relational databases, and third-party data sources. Other uses, which utilize query expressions as a general framework for readably composing arbitrary computations, include the construction of event handlers^[1] or monadic parsers.^[2] It also defines a set of method names (called standard query operators, or standard sequence operators), along with translation rules used by the compiler to translate query syntax expressions into expressions using fluent-style (called method syntax by Microsoft) with these method names, lambda expressions and anonymous types.