title: Basic MVC: What does "modelItem =>" do?
body: <p>Here is a sample line of code that is often generated by Visual Studio in an MVC type of application:</p>
  
  <pre><code>@Html.DisplayFor(modelItem =&gt; item.LastName) 
  </code></pre>
  
  <ul>
  <li>I understand how razor works (the <code>@</code>) </li>
  <li>I understand Html is an object with static helper functions, like <code>DisplayFor()</code></li>
  <li>I understand <code>item.LastName</code> as this loosely represents a row and column from data/model</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>...but what the heck is <code>modelItem =&gt;</code>? Back in my day, <code>=&gt;</code> used to be an operator that was evaluated to a Boolean value. What is this sorcery?</p>