Abstract Deviance

So I've just come across the LINQ project, which for out-of-the-loop losers like me is .NET Language Integrated Query, seems to be getting mentioned on blogs all over the place, and has just been previewed for the first time at the PDC. So not wanting to look like the only wildebeest at the waterhole who hasn't seen the lion, I decided to go and take a look around, see what I could find out.

In short, I like it. Very basically, it's about integrating query expressions into the .NET framework as first class concepts. So you get to execute queries against any IEnumerable<T> based collection or object. If you can't figure out how cool that is then re-read the last sentence, and think about it hard until you either work it out or give yourself a nose bleed.

Having barely skimmed the white papers, and breezed over the long-winded explanations, I went ahead and downloaded the tech preview, eager to give it a whirl; much to my horror it came with an alpha version of the C# 3.0 compiler to make it work. My day is ruined. I wanted this next week at the very latest; C# 2.0 hasn't even officially been released, and now I have to wait for the version after that for this to become a reality? If I'm missing something here, someone please tell me.

Anyway, I was already downloading the Channel9 video of Ander Hejlssjlsjjs....burg talking about his marvelous and yet sadly far-off creation, so I let it finish, and I'm watching it now.