When will we have LINQ in Java?

LINQ is one of Microsoft’s .NET Framework’s most distinct language features. When it was first introduced to languages such as C#, it required heavy changes to the language specification. Yet, this addition was extremely powerful and probably unequalled by other languages / platforms, such as Java, Scala, etc. Granted, Scala has integrated XML in a similar fashion into its language from the beginning, but that is hardly the same accomplishment. Nowadays, Typesafe developers are developing SLICK - Scala Language Integrated Connection Kit, which has similar ambitions, although the effort spent on it is hardly comparable: one “official” Scala developer against a big Microsoft team. Let alone the potential of getting into patent wars with Microsoft, should SLICK ever become popular.

What does Java have to offer?

Currently, I guess that QueryDSL would come closest to LINQ in the Java world. As can be seen here, it offers querying many backends using a single querying API. There are many other attempts of bringing LINQ-like API’s to the Java world, as the following Stack Overflow question shows:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1217228/what-is-the-java-equivalent-for-linq

Here’s another newcomer project by Julian Hyde, that I’ve recently discovered:

https://github.com/julianhyde/linq4j

He tried his luck on the lambda-dev mailing list, without any response so far. We’re all eagerly awaiting Java 8 and project lambda with its lambda expressions and extension methods. But when will we be able to catch up with Microsoft’s LINQ? After all, jOOQ, QueryDSL, linq4j are all “internal domain specific languages”, which are all limited by the expressivity of their host language (see my previous blog post about building domain specific languages in Java).

Java 9 maybe? We can only hope!