Do you still find yourself writing a lot of loops, and you can't help but think there must be a better way? Well, you are probably right. LINQ can help you aggregate data, extract data from existing collections, compare data between collections, process XML, select data from a database, and much more. This seminar shows you common, and uncommon, examples where you might have used loops in the past, and how to translate those into LINQ queries. LINQ is very powerful and generally is much faster than using loops, so start using it today.

This course is for anyone who wants to learn to use LINQ syntax in their .NET applications to effectively query collections of data. In this two-day hands-on course, you learn the basics of LINQ such as selecting, ordering, and filtering data. You then move on to finding single elements and extracting data using the Take() and Skip() methods. The new Range operator in .NET 6 is used as well as the new DistinctBy(), MinBy() and MaxBy().

After the basics are explored, you can then start looking at how to answer questions about what is in a collection, look for differences between collections and how to combine collections together. Just like the SQL language, you can also perform joins and subqueries using the LINQ syntax as well as grouping. Finally you explore data aggregation, iterating over collections to perform an operation, and understanding how deferred execution works with LINQ. If time permits, you will be introduced to such technologies as LINQ to XML and using LINQ with the Entity Framework.

You will learn:

• Why LINQ is Important
• About Selecting, Filtering and Ordering Data
• About Taking, Skipping and Getting Distinct Data
• How to get Specific Data using Take, Skip and Distinct
• About Union and Joining Two or More Collections
• About Grouping and Aggregating Data
• About Iterating Over Collections
• What is Deferred Execution and Why it is Important

Attendee Workstation Requirements:
You must provide your own computer (Windows or Mac) for this hands-on lab workshop with a camera, wired Internet connection, speakers, and a microphone. The following technologies must be installed on the computer prior to the start of the Seminar on Wednesday, September 14th:

• Visual Studio 2022 or later
• or Visual Studio Code V1.5 or later
• .NET 6.x or later
• SQL Server (Developer Edition or higher) or SQL Server Express

Attendee Prerequisites:
This course is designed for programmers who already have some experience with .NET and C#. You should be familiar with object-oriented programming and know how to create a console application using either Visual Studio or VS Code.