Language Integrated Query is the most compelling new feature in Visual Studio 2008 (.NET 3.5, VB9, C#3.0). LINQ’s ability to dramatically simplify data access logic with LINQ 2 SQL and its uniform syntax to also manipulate object collections and XML with LINQ to XML combine together to change the way we write software on the .NET Platform. In this session we’ll explore the framework components and language syntax additions in C# 3.0 and VB 9.0 to enable LINQ without the need for changes in the core CLR. LINQ provides typical query operations for filtering, sorting, grouping transforming and partitioning data. We’ll examine how things work under the covers and explore debugging techniques so you can really understand what’s going on. We’ll delve into LINQ to SQL to see how updates can be persisted in the database, understanding transactions and optimistic concurrency concerns. We will also point out potential gotchas with features like query composition and delayed execution.