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| LINQ to Entities |
LINQ to Entities is a LINQ implementation that queries objects created by the ADO.NET Entity Framework, which provides an Entity Data Model and services that help programmers define and interact with data at a more conceptual level.
The Entity Framework was initially to be included with Visual Studio 2008, but it is now slated for release later in 2008. As such, it seems to be the least talked-about of the main LINQ implementations. Here we link to some introductory resources, including a few comparisons between LINQ to SQL and LINQ to Entities.
From here, you can move on to the final section of the LINQ Learning Guide, which demonstrates the extensibility of LINQ with a list of implementations for querying data from NHibernate, LLBLGen Pro and SharePoint, among others.
LINQ to Entities overview
and LINQ and the Entity Data
Model (Microsoft)
These brief articles introduce programmers to the main LINQ to Entities concepts.
LINQ to Entities programming
guide (Microsoft)
As Microsoft puts it, "This section provides conceptual information and examples for programming
with LINQ to Entities." Topics include common tasks and standard query operators.
Supported and unsupported LINQ
to Entities methods (Microsoft)
Some of LINQ's standard query operators are supported in LINQ to Entities. Some are not. The
resources herein distinguish between the two.
Sorting
out LINQ and Entity Framework for Data Access (Julie Lerman)
This post touches upon the LINQ implementations, but it devotes most of its attention to LINQ to
Entities and the Entity Framework. "The key to the framework is a set of three schema files,"
Lerman says -- one to describe the conceptual layer of business entities, a second to describe the
schema of a database and a third to map between the first two.
Video: Chatting about LINQ and
ADO.NET Entities (Microsoft)
Here Anders Hejlsberg and Sam Druker offer some thoughts on LINQ and on the ADO.NET Entity
Framework.
Microsoft's
data access strategy (Mike Pizzo)
Here an architect in the company's data programmability group offers an overview of the ADO.NET
Entity Framework and how it relates to LINQ. A brief comparison of LINQ to SQL and LINQ to Entities
is provided as well.
LINQ
to Entities as an ORM (Jeremy Miller)
This blogger, writing from the MVP Summit in 2007, indicates that, as an object-relational mapping
tool, LINQ to Entities doesn't quite do it for him. "We've already got a dozen+ workable solutions
for datacentric application building," he says. "I wish they'd delivered a solution upfront for
Domain Driven Design to differentiate it more from LINQ to SQL."
Introducing LINQ to relational
data (Microsoft)
This white paper compares and contrasts LINQ to SQL and LINQ to Entities, identifying the correct
scenarios for using each.
How LINQ to
Entities and LINQ to SQL differ (Kevin Hoffman)
This article offers a handy comparison chart, based on which the article concludes that LINQ to
Entities work well if one craves "insulation and loose coupling from the underlying database
schema" as well as entity inheritance and composition.
LINQ to SQL, LINQ
to Entities and Occam's Razor (Ian Cooper)
This blogger is concerned that LINQ to Entities is "overcomplex for many needs" and suggests that
some of what it supports ought to be baked into LINQ to SQL. "Do not force us to swallow the whole
LINQ to Entities pill, just to get support for mutliple backends. This is not a reasonable
decision," Cooper contends. (Occam's
Razor is a theory stipulating that the simplest solution is, or ought to be, the best
solution.)
*** Go on to the next section of the LINQ Learning Guide: Third-party LINQ Implementations
This was first published in February 2008