Presented by:
Andrew Gray
INTRODUCTION TO LINQ
AND LAMBDA
EXPRESSIONS
Introduction to LINQ and Lambda Expressions
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About Me
Andrew Gray
 Developer
 Current Work: Technical Test Engineer at McLane Advanced
Technologies (Ranorex Studio/C#)
 Hobbies: Music, Gaming, Indie Game Development
 Game Engines: Torque, Unity
Previous Works: http://andrewrgray.webs.com/games.html
(Requires Unity Webplayer)
Introduction to LINQ and Lambda Expressions
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Agenda
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What is LINQ?
Using LINQ
LINQ Considerations
What is a Lambda Expression?
Using Lambda Expressions
Lambda Considerations
Open Discussion
References
Conclusion
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What is LINQ?
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Acronym – Language-Integrated Query [1]
Purpose - Improvement in notation
Introduced in .NET 3.5 / Visual Studio 2008
Provides SQL-like operations for searching
in-memory data [2]
Often suggested by ReSharper when an
IEnumerable is iterated over in a loop.
No, not him...
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Using LINQ – Standard Form
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Create Query [2]
Execute the Query on a data source [3]
using System.Core;
// …Other Declarations…
private static DataRow[] FindRowsInTable(DataTable table,
string field,
string value)
{
return (from DataRow r in table.Rows
where r[field].ToString() == value
select r).ToArray();
}
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Using LINQ - Parallelization
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Parallelization in LINQ is achieved by adding .AsParallel() after the
collection name. [4]
Parallel LINQ by default uses all cores up to 64, but can be limited by using
.DegreeOfParallelism(int cores) [4]
Using PLINQ can yield a performance benefit for your application, as core usage
can be controlled. [4]
using System.Core;
// …Other Declarations…
private static DataRow[] FindRowsInTable(DataTable table,
string field,
string value)
{
return (from DataRow r in table.Rows.AsParallel().WithDegreeOfParallelism(2)
where r[field].ToString() == value
select r).ToArray();
}
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LINQ Considerations
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Syntactic Sugar (Replaces for/foreach loop with SQL-like syntax)
Parallelization is possible – potential speed boost
Query execution is deferred from declaration
Additional methods have been added in the IQueryable interface
Code Smell: LINQ query on information read from a database
 A SQL query is generally better
Some LINQ commands take Lambda Expressions as parameters
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What is a Lambda Expression?
Origin – Anonymous Functions
 Lambda Calculus (1936 – Alonzo Church) [5]
 LISP (1957) [4]
 Purpose
 A refined way of defining anonymous methods or delegates
 Implements “closures” in C#
○ Closure: “A function together with a referencing
environment for the non-local variables of that function.” [6]
○ No/Limited tail-call optimization in C#
○ Language syntax is limited inside a Lambda
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What do you call a baby eigensheep?
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Using Lambda Expressions
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Lambdas take the form: (args[]) => { statements; }
Formally, => (lambda operator) reads as ‘[Left] goes to [Right]’ [7]
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Lambdas accept a void parameter list.
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Lambdas do not require arguments to refer to external variables
return isn’t required to get the result of a lambda, unless the value or
reference of an internal variable is being returned.
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() => statement(s);
Func<int, int> foo = a => { int b = 7; return a + b; }
As with delegates, anonymous methods are called by using the variable
with the given parameters.
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return foo(3);
 The definition is not executed until it is called!
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Using Lambda Expressions
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Lambdas can be mapped to the first-class function (Func<[types]>)
generic type
 The last type in the generic is the return type; all types before that are
argument types.
 Provides a means of storing or returning Lambdas with strong typing
Lambdas can also be mapped to Action<[types]>
 All parameters are inputs
 Actions have a void return type.
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Using Lambda Expressions
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Keywords break, continue, and goto are not supported in Lambdas. [7]
The params keyword cannot be used in Func<> or the lambda’s
parameter list.
 params can be used with standard delegate declarations.
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Optional parameters are not supported in Lambdas.
 Func<int> foo (int a = 7) => a*a;
Does not compile!
Cannot enclose ref or out parameters from the parent scope. [7]
Cannot be on the left side of is or as [7]
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Lambdas in C# cannot be recursive like a named method
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Using Lambda Expressions
public class CoinExample
{
private const string _Heads = “Heads!”;
private const string _Tails = “Tails!”;
private Func<string> _Flip;
private Func<string, string, string> _Tree;
private void CoinFlipper()
{
Random generator = new Random(GetSeed());
_Flip = () => ((generator.Next() % 2) == 0) ? _Heads : _Tails;
_Tree = (lhs, rhs) => lhs + “ x ” + rhs;
Console.WriteLine(“Result: ” + _Tree(_Flip(),_Flip());
}
}
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Using Lambda Expressions – IQueryable
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Lambda Expressions are often arguments in various IQueryable methods!
 .Where(Func<bool>)
 .Select(Func<bool>)
private static DataRow Foo(DataTable table, string findMe)
{
if (table == null || table.Rows.Count == 0)
throw new ArgumentNullException(“table”);
DataRow query = table.Where(a => a == findMe).GetFirstOrDefault();
return query;
}
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Using Lambda Expressions
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Lambdas do not require arguments to refer to external variables
Func<string> _Compare;
private void Foo()
{
const int a = 7,
b = 7;
// With Lambda Expression…
_Compare = () => a == b ? "Yes" : "No";
Console.WriteLine("Does A match B? " + _Compare());
// Normal way…
Console.WriteLine(“Does A match B?
“ + a == b ? “Yes” : “No”);
}
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Using Lambda Expressions
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Lambdas can be modified after initial declaration, but ReSharper will show a
warning for the modification!
Func<bool> _Compare;
private void Foo(int a, int b)
{
// Initial declaration
_Compare = () => a == b;
Console.WriteLine(
“Does A match B?
“ + _Compare() ? “Yes” : “No” );
_Compare = () => a > b;
// Warning here!
Console.WriteLine(
“Is A greater than B?
“ + _Compare() ? “Yes” : “No” );
}
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Using Lambda Expressions
Lambda Expressions can help implement dependency injection.
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public class ActionInjectionExample
{
private decimal _Primary;
private decimal _Alt;
public bool IsGreater { get BinaryCompare(() => _Primary > _Alt); }
public bool IsLesser { get BinaryCompare(() => _Primary < _Alt); }
public bool BinaryCompare(Func<bool> action)
{
// Implementation details…
bool result = action();
// Further details…
return result;
}
}
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Lambda Considerations
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Pros
 Provides support for first-class functions and expression trees
 Useful as arguments to certain LINQ query operations.
 Useful when a delegate will have a simple body.
 Lambdas can help implement dependency injection.
Neutral
 Lambdas defer execution until use.
Cons
 Unsubscribing a Lambda from an event requires additional work. [9]
 Variables used in a Lambda are not garbage collected until the
referencing delegate goes out of scope. [6]
 There is evidence that using local variables inside Lambdas can cause
resource leaks. [8]
○ Variables that are not primitives are passed by reference. [10]
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Open Discussion
Questions?
 Past Experience?
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References
1 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397926.aspx (Introduction to LINQ)
2 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397906.aspx (LINQ)
3 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1524813/convert-this-linq-expression-into-lambda (LINQ example)
4 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd997425.aspx (Introduction to PLINQ)
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_function (Anonymous Function/Lambda Expression)
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closure_(computer_science) (Lexical Closures)
7 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb397687.aspx (Lambda Expressions - MSDN)
8 http://alookonthecode.blogspot.com/2011/05/lambda-expressions-anonymous-classes.html (Issues)
9 http://www.h3mm3.com/2011/06/unsubscribing-to-events-in-c.html (Unsubscribing from Lambdas)
10 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms228360(v=vs.90).aspx (Passing Primitives / Classes)
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Fin.
Thank you for attending!
andrew.russel.gray@gmail.com
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