David Hayden [MVP C#]

Yesterday we had our Heroes Happen Here Launch Event in Sarasota, Florida. I presented the new language features in C# 3.0 as well as LINQ. It was rather cool to give this presentation, because a couple weeks earlier I was answering questions and showing demos on these same topics in The Learning Center at TechEd 2008 in Orlando.

There was a lot of material to cover in an hour, but we got through it all with good participation:

• Object and Collection Initializers
• Automatically Implemented Properties
• Partial Methods
• Implicitly Typed Local Variables
• Anonymous Types
• Extension Methods
• Lambda Expressions and Closures
• Query Expressions

For LINQ I showed several demos solving the same challenge using the various flavors of LINQ:

• LINQ To Objects
• LINQ To XML
• LINQ To SQL
• LINQ To DataSets
• LINQ To Entities
• ASP.NET Dynamic Data using LINQ To SQL

For those looking for resources on C# 3.0, I would first check out the C# Language Section on MSDN, which has links to the language specification, downloadable samples, keywords, etc. If you don't have Visual Studio, you can download the Visual C# 2008 Express Edition for free.

For LINQ samples, check out the 101 LINQ Examples on MSDN.

If you are interested in books, I reviewed 4 that I really enjoyed and highly recommend on C# and LINQ:

• Accelerated C# 2008
• C# in Depth
• LINQ in Action
• Pro LINQ

If you are looking for bite-sized examples on C# 3.0, I put together a series of C# 3.0 Language Samples when I was learning the new C# 3.0 Language Features myself:

• Extension Methods in C# 3.0 - C# Tutorials and Examples
• Lambda Expressions Extension Methods and LINQ in C# 3.0 - C#3.0 Tutorials and Examples
• C# 3.0 Feature - Object Initialization Expressions - C# 3.0 Examples and Tutorials
• Anonymous Types in C# 3.0 Needed for LINQ
• Implicitly Typed Local Variables in C# 3.0 - The var Keyword
• Automatically Implemented Properties - Visual Studio Orcas C# Compiler - C# 3.0
• Query Expression Translation in C# 3.0 - C# 3.0 Expression Queries and LINQ
• Expression Trees in C# 3.0 - C# 3.0 Examples and Tutorials
• C# 3.0 Features - C# 3.0 Examples - Query Expressions - Anonymous Types - Lamba Expressions - Extension Methods
• Expression Trees C# 3.0 Part II - Building Expression Trees - C# 3.0 Examples and Tutorials
• C# and VB Partial Methods in Orcas Beta 2 for Code Generation - Business Object Validation Example
• etc...

I created some LINQ To SQL Tutorials as well. As I mentioned at the presentation, check out Ian Cooper's LINQ To SQL Series. Matt Warren has a great series of articles on building an IQueryable Provider for insight on how LINQ to SQL works.

Thanks to everyone who attended the Heroes Happen Here Event in Sarasota.