Are you ready for the future of data access in .NET? At the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2005, Microsoft previewed a new technology, Language-Integrated Query (LINQ). It captured a lot of attention because it addressed the fundamental issue of merging object-oriented applications with relational data. The LINQ project team demonstrated how to use LINQ to query a variety of data sources, such as a SQL Server database, an XML file, and an array, and how to manage the data using an object-oriented approach. Fabio Ferracchiati has written a comprehensive guide to the three main parts of the LINQ May 2006 CTP: managing in-memory data (LINQ to Objects), accessing relational databases (LINQ to ADO .NET), and manipulating XML documents (LINQ to XML). Each chapter offers many practical examples that you can try yourself with the downloadable source code. You'll quickly learn everything you want and need to know about LINQ by actually using LINQ. The future of .NET data access is already here—and it's a very bright one!