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LINQ

Hacker Approved

Query library in Developer tools

Built into C# and free with .NET, LINQ gives strongly typed, language-native queries over data and collections. Critics say it is easy to misuse and can perform poorly.

Built into C# and free with .NET, LINQ gives strongly typed, language-native queries over data and collections. Critics say it is easy to misuse and can perform poorly.

44 people gave an opinion

recommend it
36
criticize it
8
approval share
82%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 12 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: recommended
  4. February 2026: recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: recommended
  9. July 2026: recommended
  10. August 2026: recommended
  11. September 2026: recommended
  12. October 2026: recommended
  13. November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)

Why it carries the badge

  • 36 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
  • 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
  • Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.

The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works

What people say about it

The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.

Why people recommend it

Each mark is one comment

  • Ahead of Java and other languages

    “linq in C# is a killer function that other languages still fail to replicate”

    Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “Go 1.27 Interactive Tour”

    “LINQ is vastly superior to anything that Java offered”

    Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “.NET 10”

    “Microsoft was really onto something with LINQ”

    Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “What Category Theory Teaches Us About DataFrames”
  • Developers miss it outside C#

    “the wow effect I had from using LINQ has never been repeated with anything else”

    Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Project Valhalla, Explained: How a Decade of Work Arrives in JDK 28”

    “someone would have to pry LINQ out of my cold, dead hands”

    Comment from 4 Jul 2026 in “What ORMs have taught me: just learn SQL (2014)”

    “I've been envying the C# people and their LINQ”

    Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Everyone Should Know SIMD”
  • Works well with Entity Framework

    “C# LINQ also seem to be the best compromise between ORM and raw SQL queries”

    Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Java 27”

    “Entity Framework Core with Linq is what keeps me on .NET.”

    Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “The history of C# and TypeScript with Anders Hejlsberg | GitHub”

    “Entity Framework and LINQ are gifts from the Gods.”

    Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Java 27”
  • Strongly typed, language-native queries

    “the best query language is probably whatever query feature that's already in your backend language, LINQ for C# for example”

    Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “Things I want in a modern relational query language”

    “C#'s LINQ (code as data, like LISP) wins over golang for any type of data access. Strongly-typed, language-native queries.”

    Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Axios Compromised on NPM – Malicious Versions Drop Remote Access Trojan”

    “The Linq code is native C# that can be strongly typed for ID's”

    Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Moldova broke our data pipeline”

What people warn about

Each mark is one comment

  • Slow for performance-sensitive code

    “it's so convenient, but you just can't use it for performance-sensitive stuff”

    Comment from 21 Oct 2026 in “C# now beats Rust on WASM size”

    “We can do way better then LINQ in an extendable language.”

    Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: Bun-sqlgen – Type-safe raw SQL for Bun, no ORM”

    “LINQ usually allocates shittonnes of new stuff”

    Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “C# in Unity 2026: Features Most Developers Still Don't Use”
  • Easy to misuse; behavior not obvious

    “It speed-runs juniors into thinking they are writing transactional code when they aren't.”

    Comment from 23 Aug 2026 in “Things I want in a modern relational query language”

    “results in footguns that the source language did not have”

    Comment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Stop Designing Languages. Write Libraries Instead (2016)”

    “I then demonstrated that LINQ breaks its transactionality”

    Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “What Even Are Microservices?”

What people said

40 of the 47 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“The imperative code can express temporality much easier”

RecommendsComment from 23 Oct 2026 in “LLMs are making formal software verification feasible at a much larger scale”

“it's so convenient, but you just can't use it for performance-sensitive stuff”

CriticizesComment from 21 Oct 2026 in “C# now beats Rust on WASM size”

“maybe Microsoft got it right with LINQ”

RecommendsComment from 17 Sep 2026 in “Anecdotally, programmers dislike "reduce"”

“C# LINQ also seem to be the best compromise between ORM and raw SQL queries”

RecommendsComment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Java 27”

“Entity Framework and LINQ are gifts from the Gods.”

RecommendsComment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Java 27”

“I just don't see the upgrade of what you're solving here.”

MixedComment from 30 Aug 2026 in “A better SQL in 11 lines of code”

“It speed-runs juniors into thinking they are writing transactional code when they aren't.”

MixedComment from 23 Aug 2026 in “Things I want in a modern relational query language”

“the best query language is probably whatever query feature that's already in your backend language, LINQ for C# for example”

RecommendsComment from 23 Aug 2026 in “Things I want in a modern relational query language”

“linq in C# is a killer function that other languages still fail to replicate”

RecommendsComment from 2 Aug 2026 in “Go 1.27 Interactive Tour”

“I then demonstrated that LINQ breaks its transactionality”

CriticizesComment from 28 Jul 2026 in “What Even Are Microservices?”

“I've been envying the C# people and their LINQ”

RecommendsComment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Everyone Should Know SIMD”

“LINQ is typically what I miss most from C#”

RecommendsComment from 6 Jul 2026 in “What ORMs have taught me: just learn SQL (2014)”

“someone would have to pry LINQ out of my cold, dead hands”

RecommendsComment from 4 Jul 2026 in “What ORMs have taught me: just learn SQL (2014)”

“I just pine for LINQ/EF Core.”

RecommendsComment from 4 Jul 2026 in “What ORMs have taught me: just learn SQL (2014)”

“We can do way better then LINQ in an extendable language.”

CriticizesComment from 24 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: Bun-sqlgen – Type-safe raw SQL for Bun, no ORM”

“I mostly blame it on Linq but you are right it mostly because bad documentation on both the provider and the general stuff on how Linq works.”

MixedComment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Project Valhalla, Explained: How a Decade of Work Arrives in JDK 28”

“the wow effect I had from using LINQ has never been repeated with anything else”

RecommendsComment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Project Valhalla, Explained: How a Decade of Work Arrives in JDK 28”

“LINQ can in many cases improve performance significantly in large applications when used properly”

RecommendsComment from 19 Jun 2026 in “Project Valhalla, Explained: How a Decade of Work Arrives in JDK 28”

“AspNetCore startup code, LINQ and EF are good examples.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Why Custom Attributes in .NET Give Me Nightmares”

“Linq alone left Java behind.”

RecommendsComment from 24 May 2026 in “dotNET (OK, C#) gets union types”

“I find that way of thinking has been very helpful in developing with LINQ in C#”

RecommendsComment from 14 May 2026 in “Saying Goodbye to one line of APL”

“If you want to avoid string manipulation then you can construct queries with a query builder API like C#'s LINQ.”

RecommendsComment from 7 May 2026 in “SQLite Is a Library of Congress Recommended Storage Format”

“LINQ usually allocates shittonnes of new stuff”

CriticizesComment from 14 Apr 2026 in “C# in Unity 2026: Features Most Developers Still Don't Use”

“A LINQ statement is a lot easier to parse than a long block inside a foreach.”

RecommendsComment from 9 Apr 2026 in “C# in Unity 2026: Features Most Developers Still Don't Use”

“it is not obvious and best avoided”

CriticizesComment from 9 Apr 2026 in “C# in Unity 2026: Features Most Developers Still Don't Use”

“Microsoft was really onto something with LINQ”

RecommendsComment from 3 Apr 2026 in “What Category Theory Teaches Us About DataFrames”

“C#'s LINQ (code as data, like LISP) wins over golang for any type of data access. Strongly-typed, language-native queries.”

RecommendsComment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Axios Compromised on NPM – Malicious Versions Drop Remote Access Trojan”

“It solves all of your issues with “ORMs””

RecommendsComment from 21 Mar 2026 in “Java Is Fast. Your Code Might Not Be”

“The Linq code is native C# that can be strongly typed for ID's”

RecommendsComment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Moldova broke our data pipeline”

“they make the right thing easier than the wrong thing”

RecommendsComment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Moldova broke our data pipeline”

“I always preferred the linq syntax with the from first too”

RecommendsComment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Pipelined Relational Query Language, Pronounced "Prequel"”

“pipeline execution order follows the order as written in the code”

RecommendsComment from 6 Feb 2026 in “Waiting for Postgres 19: Better Planner Hints with Path Generation Strategies [video]”

“Entity Framework Core with Linq is what keeps me on .NET.”

RecommendsComment from 1 Feb 2026 in “The history of C# and TypeScript with Anders Hejlsberg | GitHub”

“results in footguns that the source language did not have”

CriticizesComment from 7 Jan 2026 in “Stop Designing Languages. Write Libraries Instead (2016)”

“the only(?) great XML workflow is with C# LINQ”

RecommendsComment from 3 Jan 2026 in “FracturedJson”

“LINQ rivals SQL itself in that you can write very small yet powerful queries”

RecommendsComment from 23 Dec 2025 in “The Rise of SQL:the second programming language everyone needs to know”

“C#/NATS/LINQ combination provides amazing language primitives in building distributed business production systems”

RecommendsComment from 12 Dec 2025 in “Fault tolerance is key in compositional learning infrastructure: NATS and C#”

“pretty robust set of tooling that was ahead of its time”

RecommendsComment from 19 Nov 2025 in “Programming the Commodore 64 with .NET”

“My ideal language would be like Go + Linq.”

RecommendsComment from 12 Nov 2025 in “.NET 10”

“LINQ is vastly superior to anything that Java offered”

RecommendsComment from 12 Nov 2025 in “.NET 10”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.