Chapter 29. ADO.NET Entity Framework

Nowadays, accessing data is one of the main things almost every application must do. Nearly all applications deal with data in some manner, whether that data comes from memory (in-memory data), databases, XML files, text files, or something else. Many developers find it very difficult to move from the strongly typed object-oriented world of C# or Visual Basic to the data tier where objects are second-class citizens. Before the ADO.NET Entity Framework, the transition from the one world to the next was a kludge at best and was full of error-prone actions. Data access can complicate your application development for a number of reasons, including the fact that the database space and the application space are two different worlds entirely.

Microsoft consistently attempts to simplify a programmer's common tasks that are laborious and complicated by abstracting the difficulties of these tasks through a combination of new interfaces and IDE assistance. With the release of the ADO.NET Entity Framework, you will find that navigating the world between the database and your application is easier than ever.

With one of the available .NET programming languages, using objects in your code really means a wonderful ability to work with strongly-typed objects in your code. As a programmer, you can navigate very easily through namespaces, work with a debugger in the Visual Studio IDE, and more. However, when it comes to accessing data, things are dramatically different. ...

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