seniorLINQ

Why does LINQ behave unpredictably when combined with reflection-based projections?

Updated May 16, 2026

Short answer

Reflection inside LINQ breaks translation and often forces client-side evaluation.

Deep explanation

LINQ providers cannot translate reflection-based logic into SQL because reflection executes at runtime in .NET context. When used inside IQueryable, this breaks translation and either throws exceptions or forces full client-side execution. This leads to performance degradation and unpredictable behavior.

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