A Java Perspective on LINQ

Roger Voss, posting on JavaLobby gives what I believe a very pragmatic view of what LINQ means to not only Java, but to the broader developer community. His approach I think, is particularly appropriate: in the aftermath of what was an energetic JavaOne 2006, it's important to take a step back beyond the Ruby on Rails or EJB announcements and take a long hard look at the ubiquity a language advancement such as LINQ offers. Microsoft is already on the their third CTP of the LINQ and associated technologies. Obviously there will be an adoption curve as people figure out what it means to their development efforts, but there is no room for the Java community to rest on their laurels. Both a discussion (current active on JavaLobby) on a equivalent development (or standardization) effort for the Java language, I hope will be brought to the fore. With a wide ranging, frank and well articulated discussion on this, ultimately will be to the benefit of both Java and .NET developers alike. On one point, I do disagree with his assertion that "There will still just be XPath for XML, and nothing at all for in-memory object graphs. Tuples?". He should consider XQuery and what this means as significant bridge to providing the mechanics of LINQ for the Java platform. If the level of functionality offered in DataDirect XQuery, and the level of symmetry between the W3C XQuery language syntax and rules, you quickly see a strong correlation between the two. Check out Jonathan Robie's blog for more thoughts. One way or the other, and I agree with Roger Voss on this : C# 3.0 and the next generation of the .NET Framework is poised to grab some major attention, or as Voss puts it "In the on-going saga of the Language Wars, Microsoft's new LINQ feature looks poised to kick butt and take names. For in the meantime, over in the Java community, EJB3 persistence and its portable query language syntax will be regarded as the height of Java technology for query."