Is it bad to "think" in LINQ when the skill isn't transferrable outside C#?
c#, linq
Solution
Fortunately, no. The "LINQ" way of thinking is more properly understood as a "functional" way of thinking, and this is a highly transferable mindset.
Obviously when you move from language to language and framework to framework the syntax and framework methods will be different but the mindset is the same. The important skill that you have aquired is the ability to think in terms of sequences and functional pipelines that process those sequences.
Problem
I use LINQ in my code all the time. I've gotten to the point where it just seems so natural to Group, Order, an organize a bunch of objects using the LINQ syntax that I struggle to think how I would do the same things without it. I had never delved into the SQL-esque world before this, but I imagine many people who learned even the normal SQL syntax suddenly felt constricted by most normal programming languages abilities to wrangle complex object hierarchies? Am I painting myself into a corner becoming reliant on LINQ to do my more complex tasks? It just feels so much more expressive than if I wrote plain C# code. Is becoming dependent on the LINQ syntax in my day-to-day programming going to hurt me in the long run if I end up switching languages or frameworks where something like it isn't available?