LINQ in Visual Basic Rocks!
OK I'm back.... I am sitting in the PDC 2005 Session on Features of Visual Basic 9.0
Here's my brief synopsis... VB 9.0 Rocks
Here's a link to what's coming http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/future/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnvs05/html/vb9overview.asp
The syntax is very SQL Like. All of the C# sessions I have seen so far have shown some very cumbersome and non standard syntax for using LINQ. The VB Team was smart in their implementation. What does the syntax look like. Well it looks just like SQL. Select from Order By .
Paul Vick also showed a mechanism for embedding Visual Basic Functions into your SQL Queries..
Select x := Sum(MyFunc(MyParameter)) From etc.
Another items that is cool in VB 9 is the ability to embed XML directly into your code
Dim x = Data Goes Here
Notice one thing this is directly posted XML not XML assigned to a string. You can now embed data into your XML using syntax similar to the way we embedded data into ASP pages.
I will have bits and will be posting samples of this over the coming weeks.
FWIW... if you are looking for justification for choosing VB.NET this is sure one. I think the VB team really “gets“ data and how developers work with it.