The SitePoint PHP blog has posted the first part of a new series they're releasing about querying your data with Pinq. It's a PHP-based query tool that provides a fluent interface for searching and traversing your data. In this first post of the series Taylor Ren introduces you to the library and shows some basic usage.

You may have heard of LINQ (Language-Integrated Query), a “set of features introduced in Visual Studio 2008 that extends powerful query capabilities to the language syntax of C# and Visual Basic”. It provides necessary interfaces and syntax to perform various queries on a given dataset so that operations like filtering, sorting, grouping, aggregating, etc can be performed. PINQ (PHP Integrated Query) is “based off the .NET’s Linq, and unifies querying across arrays/iterators and external data sources, in a single readable and concise fluent API”.

He talks about normal searching (equals matching) and "faceted searching", narrowing down the results piece by piece until you find what you need. He gives an example with some sample database data and shows the results of a simple query with a price filter and grouped by author. He includes the code to make it happen (inside a simple Silex application) too. He then takes a deeper look at the LINQ queries and how related statements are handled.

In a recent blog entry Mike Borozdin takes a look at a version of a data query language implemented in PHP, LINQ, as PHPLinq.

I read about the PHP Implementation of LINQ called PHPLinq. Frankly, I was skeptical about it. Finally, I gave it a try. I still remain skeptical...Let me explain why

He includes an example of a query on an array and how it's "less correct" than a more true to form LINQ implementation. Despite reservations though, he still feels that this implementation of LINQ for PHP has some "cool features" in its own right and it worth checking out.

Maarten Balliauw has posted about an interesting new development he's made and is sharing with the PHP community - PHPLinq (Language Integrated Query).

Perhaps you have already heard of C# 3.5's "LINQ" component. LINQ, or Language Integrated Query, is a component inside the .NET framework which enables you to perform queries on a variety of data sources like arrays, XML, SQL server, ... These queries are defined using a syntax which is very similar to SQL. [...] I thought of creating a similar concept for PHP. So here's the result of a few days coding.

The library is available for download and some examples are included to show it in action (both in a simple example and in a more complex search on a series of objects).