LINQ to MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL Providers
(Page 1 of 4 )
LINQ is one of the latest Microsoft technologies released under the .NET Framework 3.5. It brought native data querying capabilities to Visual C# and Basic. It incorporates seamlessly into the syntax of .NET languages. The entire architecture was designed specifically for the Microsoft SQL Server. In this article we are going to cover providers of LINQ to other databases such as MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and SQLite.
Before we begin, I’d recommend checking out my book review of “LINQ Quickly.” This book introduces the reader to the world of LINQ and leads through numerous ready-to-apply examples in the real world. The article also gives a sense of what LINQ is about. If you aren’t familiar with LINQ then don’t skimp on getting acquainted now.
Since this article presents a set of LINQ providers to other databases, knowing what the real LINQ is about and how to work with it (i.e. encapsulating data into objects and interpreting the results of queries stored in collections) is important> Otherwise, you can’t really appreciate the similarities of third party providers to other databases. Likewise, you won't notice the differences.
Many of the providers that we are going to cover are currently still under heavy development. Some are freely available, and even open source, where the community is actively looking for developers right now; others are only commercially available. Depending on your needs or your company’s needs, this article will try to give you a couple of the most popular and most proven possibilities. The decision is yours.
Meanwhile, this article will be followed by a sequel, which will present a basic applicable example of the freely available DbLinq provider, namely its LINQ-to-MySQL variation. That article will be published here as well. The programming language will be C# with the Visual Studio 2008 IDE. And the sample application will deal somewhat loosely with hotel management, exemplifying queries and commands.
This being said, we invite you to turn the page (by clicking the link below), and let’s begin.
Next: Provider Possibilities >>
More MS SQL Server Articles
More By Barzan "Tony" Antal
/ 8 
