Introduction to SuperLinq
SuperLinq is a powerful enhancement of the Language Integrated Query (LINQ) for .NET, specifically geared towards working with objects and easing its limitations. Although LINQ to Objects provides a rich query capability for collections in .NET, there are certain features people often wish it had. Enter SuperLinq, a project designed to bridge this gap by extending LINQ capabilities with additional methods while maintaining the LINQ style.
SuperLinq Packages
SuperLinq comes in two main packages:
-
SuperLinq: This is the primary package that extends
IEnumerable<T>with additional methods. It is available for download on NuGet. You can refer to its documentation via this link. -
SuperLinq.Async: This package offers support for
IAsyncEnumerable<T>to provide asynchronous operations. It can be found on NuGet. Documentation is available here.
Key Features
SuperLinq evolves standard LINQ by introducing a variety of new operations categorized into several groups:
Sorting Data
SuperLinq enhances sorting operations with methods like OrderBy and ThenBy for ordering based on keys. Additionally, it includes methods like PartialSort, DensePartialSort for efficiently sorting only the top N elements, and Shuffle for random ordering.
Set Operations
With methods like DistinctBy, Duplicates, and ExceptBy, SuperLinq facilitates operations that work with distinct elements and set differences, enhancing the handling of collection elements.
Filtering Data
Filtering is enhanced through more advanced methods like Choose, WhereLead, and WhereLag, which allow for complex filtering based on surrounding elements in a sequence.
Quantifier Operations
These operations return boolean results based on sequences. Methods like AtLeast, Exactly, and HasDuplicates help assess the content and structure of collections efficiently.
Projection Operations
Here, SuperLinq excels at transforming sequences. It includes EquiZip, ZipLongest, ZipShortest to merge sequences and Rank and DenseRank for ranking elements.
Partitioning Data
To manage large sequences of data, SuperLinq extends partitioning operations beyond .Take() and .Skip() with methods like Batch, Buffer, Segment, and Split.
Conclusion
SuperLinq significantly bolsters the operations available for LINQ to Objects, providing more flexibility and performance improvements. It serves as a crucial toolkit for developers looking to optimize their data manipulation workflows within .NET applications. SuperLinq's growing repository of methods offers significant enhancements over traditional LINQ, therefore pushing it to new heights in both synchronous and asynchronous programming tasks.