Question

How can I write this LINQ query by using the extension method syntax?

var query = from a in sequenceA
            from b in sequenceB
            select ...; 

Answer 1

For your future reference, all questions of this form are answered by section 7.16 of the C# specification.

Your specific question is answered by this paragraph:

---

A query expression with a second from clause followed by a select clause

from x1 in e1
from x2 in e2
select v

is translated into

( e1 ) . SelectMany( x1 => e2 , ( x1 , x2 ) => v )

---

So your query:

var query = from a in sequenceA            
            from b in sequenceB
            select ...;  

Is the same as

var query =  ( sequenceA ) . SelectMany( a => sequenceB , ( a , b ) => ... )

(Note that of course this assumes that the “…” is an expression, and not, say, an expression followed by a query continuation.)

hdv’s answer points out that

var query =  ( sequenceA ) . SelectMany( 
    a => ( sequenceB ) . Select( b => ... ) );

would also be a logically valid translation, though it is not the translation we actually perform. In the early days of LINQ implementation, this was the translation we chose. However, as you pile on more from clauses, it makes the lambdas nest more and more deeply, which then presents the compiler with an enormous problem in type inference. This choice of translation wrecks compiler performance, so we introduced the transparent identifier mechanism to give us a much cheaper way to represent the seamntics of deeply nested scopes.

If these subjects interest you:

For more thoughts on why deeply nested lambdas present a hard problem for the compiler to solve, see:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2007/03/26/lambda-expressions-vs-anonymous-methods-part-four.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2007/03/28/lambda-expressions-vs-anonymous-methods-part-five.aspx

For more information about transparent identifiers, see this post from Wes Dyer, who implemented them in C# 3.0:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/wesdyer/archive/2006/12/22/transparent-identifiers.aspx

And my series of articles about them:

http://ericlippert.com/2014/07/31/transparent-identifiers-part-one/