Explaining the Difference between IQueryable and IEnumerable in LINQ

When it comes to LINQ in C#, it's important to understand the difference between IQueryable and IEnumerable.

IQueryable

IQueryable is an interface that inherits from IEnumerable. It represents a query that can be executed against a specific data source, such as a database. When you use IQueryable, the query is executed on the server side, meaning that filtering, sorting, and paging are done on the database itself.

IEnumerable

IEnumerable, on the other hand, is a simpler interface that represents a collection of objects that you can iterate over. When you use IEnumerable, the entire dataset is loaded into memory, and any operations such as filtering or sorting are done on the client side.

Overall, the key difference between IQueryable and IEnumerable is that IQueryable allows for deferred execution of queries and performs operations on the server side, while IEnumerable loads all data into memory and performs operations on the client side.