Likewise, it is hard to see what
the resulting XML will look like.
XML is great and its use continues to grow; you can expect it to be around for a long time. Yet, truth be
told, XML is still hard to work with.
In dealing with these hurdles, Microsoft considered two paths. The first path would have required the
company to build specific XML or relational data features into each programming language and run-time.
That would be a major undertaking and an even bigger hassle to maintain. The second option was to add
more general-purpose query capabilities into the .NET Framework??”in other words, a framework of
all-purpose querying facilities built into the .NET Framework that both C# and VB.NET could easily take
advantage of.
Luckily, Microsoft chose the later option, creating a unified query experience across objects, XML,
collections, and data. It accomplished that by taking query set operations, transforms, and constructs and
bringing them to the surface, making them high-level concepts within the .NET Framework (for example,
5
Part I: Introduction to Project LINQ
on the same level as objects and classes).
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