What is the Future of Linq to SQL

Question

Ive been searching for Linq tutorials online and came across some articles saying that linq may go away? What is your take on this? Will microsoft really do away with linq

Answer 1

Improvements have been made for .NET 4.0, but Entity Framework will become the recommended solution. To quote Tim Mallalieu:

“We will continue make some investments in LINQ to SQL based on customer feedback. This post was about making our intentions for future innovation clear and to call out the fact that as of .NET 4.0, LINQ to Entities will be the recommended data access solution for LINQ to relational scenarios….We also want to get your feedback on the key experiences in LINQ to SQL that we need to add in to LINQ to Entities in order to enable the same simple scenarios that brought you to use LINQ to SQL in the first place.”

Answer 2

Microsoft will not do away with LINQ. LINQ is basically a a universal approach to query data from different data sources. There's LINQ to SQL, LINQ to objects and LINQ to XML. A LINQ provider can be created for any data source. It's a PIA to create one, but it can be done. IMO, linq query approaches are here to stay.

However, LINQ to SQL may fade away. It seems like alot of people are split between Entity Framework EF and Linq to SQL. I like Linq to Sql but microsoft's implementation only supports sql server. That was a deal breaker for me since I have to query Jet as well. Other people have created LINQ providers for the other major databases but I'm still not convinced that it's going to go the distance.

I haven't worked with EF yet but here's a good post on the comparison

Answer 3

Linq to SQL is not receiving as much attention to progressing it's features as is the Entity Framework. MS has made a decision to pursue enriching/developing EF and as for L2S this meant moving / redirecting resources away from it.

However, it is a great tool for many situations. :) SO actually uses L2S. :) As the years go on and EF progresses there is a chance that L2S will disappear but I think it will be with us for a while yet. Here's a link that speaks a little towards why L2S is good to consider. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/837590/to-linq-to-sql-or-not-that-is-the-question. I see L2S fitting well for smaller apps or less complex apps.

It isn't "dead" as in you won't have it in .Net 4.0 or so. For example, here's a blog entry on the updates L2S is getting in 4.0.

http://damieng.com/blog/2009/06/01/linq-to-sql-changes-in-net-40

Answer 4

Please do not confuse Linq and Linq To Sql, they are very different things.

Linq is good and will be around for a long time.

Linq To Sql is mediocre at best and shouldn't really be considered for the large majority of projects.

Because there are much better choices than Linq To Sql (NHibernate and SubSonic being two of them), there is no need to worry about Microsoft's future plans for Linq To Sql (or lack thereof). Ignoring Linq To Sql is your best option, unless you are forced to use it, in which case, good luck with that.

The drawbacks of adopting Linq To Sql

Do not use the Visual Studio 2008 LinqToSql O/R Designer

Answer 5

Over the long term Microsoft wants to kill it. But for the time being they are still making some investment into the technology.

Here is a couple articles I wrote on the topic,

http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/11/DLINQ-Future

http://www.infoq.com/news/2009/06/DLINQ-4