What is Linq to Entities?

Question

There are so many terms and it is getting hard to learn the thing you are after because of the noise.

Is Linq to Entities just the practice of using Linq queries against the entities generated by the ADO.NET Entity Framework? Or, is it a separate technology?

If it isn't a separate technology, why does it have another confusing name as though it were?

Answer 1

LINQ to entities is a LINQ provider for entity framework model.

The thing that analyzes lambdas, part of entity framework.

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To understand nature of LINQ thoroughly, i recommend book "Pro LINQ".

Answer 2

Linq to Entities is indeed practice to user Linq to query ADO.NET Entity framework. But under the hood there is some separate technology (provider) which converts expression tree built by linq to database query.

Answer 3

Is Linq to Entities just the practice of using Linq queries against the entities generated by the ADO.NET Entity Framework?

Yes. :)

Answer 4

"LINQ" is a getting to be a rough term because people use it imprecisely in so many contexts.

A lot of people I've run into, when they say, "Linq" mean "LINQ to SQL".

LINQ really is a standard query system that integrated into the language which can fit on top of many different sources of data.

• LINQ to Objects -> Using Linq to query objects in memory
• LINQ to XML -> Using Linq to query XML documents
• LINQ to Entities -> Using Linq to query the entities generated by the ADO.NET Entity Framework
• LINQ to SQL -> Using Linq to query SQL Server tables (pretty much obsolete after Entity Framework 4.0)
• LINQ to [Your favorite API] -> Linq can be used to query all sorts of data sources. We're seeing it used for SharePoint and MS CRM these days, but it's being used more and more against all sorts of stuff.