{"id":720,"date":"2008-02-15T00:24:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-15T00:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/blogs\/bobb\/post\/Learning-LINQ-LINQ-to-SQL-and-eSQL.aspx"},"modified":"2008-02-15T00:24:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-15T00:24:00","slug":"learning-linq-linq-to-sql-and-esql","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/bobb\/learning-linq-linq-to-sql-and-esql\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning LINQ, LINQ to SQL and eSQL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nI often hear those who identify themselves as "database programmers" (sometimes I think these may be folks who program only inside-database code), say: "I'd give learning LINQ and\/or LINQ to SQL\/Entities or Entity SQL (eSQL) a go in my sparse time, but I don't have a good book or a tool.\n<\/p>\n

\nI haven't read a book on either of these yet, spending most of my time in BOL. BOL is a good start (but not comprehensive) for LINQ and LINQ to SQL. eSQL docs are pretty sparse, but that's because its not a shipping product yet. Maybe things will improve. (Note: if anyone wants to send me a copy of their book to read in my spare time, I'll give it a go ;-).\n<\/p>\n

\nFollowing LINQ is more difficult than EF (modulo LINQ to Entities) because there's many implementations\/dialects. There are operators that LINQ (over objects) can do, but LINQ to SQL or LINQ to Entities cannot.\n<\/p>\n

\nOn to tools:\n<\/p>\n

\nFor LINQ, I like LINQPad<\/a> by Joseph Albahari. Simple to set up, although the queries are not *exactly* the same as you'd write in a program. And it doesn't support LINQ to Entities yet (or LINQ to DataSet for that matter). But, all in all, an excellent tool.\n<\/p>\n

\nFor eSQL, there's no comparison to Zlatko Michailov's eSqlBlast. This is not only an eSQL practice query processor, but also a visualizer for the results you'd get back. You just type in the eSQL. Even comes with source code. Latest version is on CodePlex<\/a>. This is straight eSQL, no LINQ to Entities support here either.\n<\/p>\n

\nNeither one of these has Intellisence or statement completion, I believe.\n<\/p>\n

\nEnjoy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I often hear those who identify themselves as "database programmers" (sometimes I think these may be folks who program only inside-database code), say: "I'd give learning LINQ and\/or LINQ to SQL\/Entities or Entity SQL (eSQL) a go in my sparse time, but I don't have a good book or a tool. I haven't read a book on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-data-access","category-sql-server-2008"],"yoast_head":"\nLearning LINQ, LINQ to SQL and eSQL - Bob Beauchemin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sqlskills.com\/blogs\/bobb\/learning-linq-linq-to-sql-and-esql\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning LINQ, LINQ to SQL and eSQL - Bob Beauchemin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I often hear those who identify themselves as "database programmers" (sometimes I think these may be folks who program only inside-database code), say: "I'd give learning LINQ and\/or LINQ to SQL\/Entities or Entity SQL (eSQL) a go in my sparse time, but I don't have a good book or a tool. 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