Microsoft Silverlight Books

Best book on Entity Framework

I highly recommend this book to programmers both basic and advanced who uses the Entity Framework.

This book can be used as a learning book for someone who wants to learn about EF afresh or as a reference book for an advanced programmer. Even if you think you know everything to know about EF - you still want to read this book as it puts a better perspective on things you thought you know.

The book starts with the basic of EF and explains the difference between database schema and business schema and how the normalized tables of a database done by the database administrator may not be the same as your domain objects - and how EF helps you to fix that gap.

The book explains the Entity data model and the 2 way of querying it namely : LINQ to Entities and SQL Entity ( similar to T-SQL ). The later chapter covers both querying methods in detail. It also covers how to use the Stored Procedures with the EDM, data binding with Windows Forms and WPF application, EF object services like keep track of changes and relationship between objects, customizing entities, etc.

In short the author does a good job of covering all the topics related to EF in a nice way. Highly recommended.

Ayp
08 November, 2010

kindle version unreadable

I downloaded the kindle version of this book after seeing it on Julias blog. Unfortunately the kindle version is completely unreadable as the book is full of garbage text. Almost every classname and technical term in the book is garbage text making it impossible to read or learn from. I will be asking Amazon for a refund.

Barry
28 October, 2010

Lots of good knowledge transfer; just not well organized.

I liked this book. The author is very knowledgeable on the subject of Entity Framework. There are a lot of examples and step by steps in this book. I liked the chapter on writing Linq to Entities and Entity SQL. In this chapter the author shows examples of how to write Linq queries and then shows the matching statement in Entity SQL followed by what Sql statement that is generated and run on the database server. She also spends some time covering what the designer is still not capable of but the Framework is still able to do.

She spent a fair amount of time answering the questions that came to my mind as I read. For example, now that I have this Entity mapped to two different tables, how does Entity Framework handle inserting new verses updating existing ones?

I rated the book four stars, even though I think that this book has some issues. But I dislike reviews that tell you how horrible the book is because of some grammatical errors. I would hope that if I spent my time writing a book that people would judge it mostly on content. Not my mastery of the English language.

With that said, I do think that this book was filled with too much information that didn't directly relate to Entity Framework at all. There were several chapters on binding data, using Entity Framework, that I just skimmed. The other problem that I had with it was the organization of the entire book. The first clue that told me this has organizational issues is the countless times the author mentions that, "you learn about this feature in chapter X".

I think that this book would be worth more if the author spent some time reorganizing the content and taking out all the fluff that doesn't have to do with Entity Framework. (It's heavy and my arm gets tired carrying it around.)


Ken
28 October, 2010

An excellent deep dive into Entity Framework 4

If you want to learn Entity Framework and get a understanding of how it works, then you want this book. This isn't "Learn Entity Framework in 24 hours", it's a well documented guide to what Entity Framework is and how you can use it. I keep a core group of programming books on my iPad and this is one of them. If you been programming against the database since the dawn of time (like I have), you'll appreciate the chapter on programming against the model of the database, instead of the database.

The example code is clear and concise and Julie provides plenty of examples that illustrate common mistakes and how to avoid them.

Christopher Miller
26 October, 2010

Certainly worth the purchase price... however

First - go ahead and get this book. Second - Please let me refine an important point straight away. I would have liked Amazon to provide multiple categories for rating this book and many other books.

Perhaps this chart will help to clarify:

Reference Value = *****
Quick Start Value =**
Organization=***.5
Depth=*****

My priority is Quick Start, hence the 3 star rating. Your mileage may vary.

Background

Like Juval's WCF book, this EF book begins with well-organized introductory material, but later chapters contain a jumble of practical application techniques, deep dives into implementation details, anecdotes, and copious detail. By the time I reached the mid-point of the book, I was buried in detail without a practical understanding of how to approach the immediate modeling problem at hand. I am just now shifting my attention over to the APress EF recipes book to reset my learning effort. I plan on interleaving my study of these two EF books from this point forward. For example, while I start to run through a bunch of the hands-on material in the APress recipes book, I'll fast forward to later chapters of the Lerman book for material on N-Tier, MVC, and POCO.

What would be the best approach? Sanderson's MVC sets the benchmark as it is a perfect example of successive embellish. Success embellish begins with entry level material and builds one core concept upon another. Key material is methodically revealed from top to bottom and the final result is a solid understanding which enables application developers to tackle real-world problems. But it gets even better. The second half of the MVC book is a quasi-reference section that carves out each building block introduced in the first part of the book for detailed examination. I say quasi as MVC reference material is both detailed and practical.

So how could the EF book be improved? For my immediate quick start purposes, it would have been quite helpful if the EF material had been organized using the successive embellishment/reference section two-part model.

In summary, this book is a must have and is destined to become a trusty, dogged-eared volume on many prairie dog shelves. Best wishes on happy coding and natural light shining brightly on your p-dog cubicle.


Rex Pebble the II
26 October, 2010

Big, Detailed and Comprehensive

This book is a big, 800+ page text that uses all those pages to cover the breadth and depth of how EF can be used/configured across a universe of technologies and use cases.

It is very comphrensive and I bought the paper version so I could keep referencing it while it sits next to my keyboard as I code.

A. Surma
25 October, 2010

Entity Framework for VB Users

From the table of contents I can see that this is a comprehensive attempt to teach the 2nd version of Microsoft's new Entity Framework. It appears that the author put a lot of time and thought into this book. That said, code samples are in C# and if you are a Visual Basic User, you will be in for a struggle. Also, the first chapter has a section indicating that many of the pain points of the Entity Framework have gone away. One problem mentioned that hasn't gone away is support for very large models. It would be nice to know what is meant by this before taking the time to learn a system that might not do the job. Quantifying "large" right away might help me determine the direction for me to take on my project. Maybe I should stick to traditional ADO.net for now. I would encourage the author to continue the series for what is certain to be another version of the Entity Framework. However, incorporating Visual Basic and quantifying issues that could make a critical difference in direction should be incorporated in the next version of "Programming Entity Framework".

VBUser56
25 October, 2010

Stop looking and buy this book

I've been developing software for over 10 years and have been through many of these 1,000+ page books. I always wished that someone would give me more than just half the story, and this book does just that. It goes beyond the usual "filler" chapters and provides golden content from page one all the way to the end. Tips and pointers to other chapters and sections are positioned in a way that makes you think that the book is reading your mind. There is no confusion here, just a well thought out and organized book that takes you down a straight path to understanding the Entity Framework. I'll be looking for more books by O'Reilly from now on, especially if they publish more authors like Julia Lerman. Congratulations on a job well done!

W. Boustani
06 October, 2010

The Ultimate EF Reference / Programming Guide

I go through many books every month looking for that special book that will be my "goto" resource for any particular task/technology. Rarely am I as pleased as I am with this book. It reminds me of the Petzold book "Programming Windows", and the Prosise book "Programing Windows With MFC". Those two books were always within reach for me (many years ago). Programming EF has earned that same trust with me. Every topic is clearly laid out and accompanied by examples that strike a perfect balance between too much and too little. I have a couple other EF books as well, both from APress. They don't really stack up. They seem rushed and a little bit too much like regurgitated manuals. Sorry APress. The fact of the matter is I don't think I've ever seen a bad book from O'Reilly, or Manning.

Honestly, I bought two copies. One for the office, and one for home.

B. Savoie
24 September, 2010

Definitive reference for Entity Framework 4

I have been using the PDF pre-release version of the second edition of this book for several months, and I have been very pleased with it. Good introductory material in the front--I used it to get my feet wet in EF4. Reference material is very good, and it should take you about as far as you need to go for enterprise development with EF4. It looks like Microsoft finally got it right with this version of Entity Framework, or at least close enough to right to make EF4 quite usable. I can recommend this book without hesitation.

David C. Veeneman
10 September, 2010

Excellent work

I enjoyed reading V2 of this book.

The author delivers the content with a hands-on approach that keeps you interested. There is also the occasional nugget of detailed information at just the right time along the way to provide context, without deluging the reader. If you're coming from V1, there are numerous references and comparison to help you sort out the differences.

The table of contents are logically ordered, and if you compare to the previous version, there are a few changes. The size of most chapters is just right, typically 20-30 pages, which enables you to read it in one sitting and go through some of the code samples.

It also helps that Julia is pretty much the authority on EF, and is a very good writer.


G. Askew
05 September, 2010

Excellent work

I enjoyed reading V2 of this book.

The author delivers the content with a hands-on approach that keeps you interested. There is also the occasional nugget of detailed information at just the right time along the way to provide context, without deluging the reader. If you're coming from V1, there are numerous references and comparison to help you sort out the differences.

The table of contents are logically ordered, and if you compare to the previous version, there are a few changes. The size of most chapters is just right, typically 20-30 pages, which enables you to read it in one sitting and go through some of the code samples.

It also helps that Julia is pretty much the authority on EF, and is a very good writer.


G. Askew
05 September, 2010

Excellent work

I enjoyed reading V2 of this book.

The author delivers the content with a hands-on approach that keeps you interested. There is also the occasional nugget of detailed information at just the right time along the way to provide context, without deluging the reader. If you're coming from V1, there are numerous references and comparison to help you sort out the differences.

The table of contents are logically ordered, and if you compare to the previous version, there are a few changes. The size of most chapters is just right, typically 20-30 pages, which enables you to read it in one sitting and go through some of the code samples.

It also helps that Julia is pretty much the authority on EF, and is a very good writer.


G. Askew
05 September, 2010

Excellent work

I enjoyed reading V2 of this book.

The author delivers the content with a hands-on approach that keeps you interested. There is also the occasional nugget of detailed information at just the right time along the way to provide context, without deluging the reader. If you're coming from V1, there are numerous references and comparison to help you sort out the differences.

The table of contents are logically ordered, and if you compare to the previous version, there are a few changes. The chapter size is just right, typically 20-30 pages, which enables you to read it in one sitting and go through some of the code samples.

It also helps that Julia is pretty much the authority on EF, and is a very good writer.

One caveat: the code samples are not yet on the book web site (as of 20100905). The book has code excerpts, and some are a bit murky if you don't have the complete code listing. Hopefully this will be remedied soon.

G. Askew
05 September, 2010

Excellent work

I enjoyed reading V2 of this book.

The author delivers the content with a hands-on approach that keeps you interested. There is also the occasional nugget of detailed information at just the right time along the way to provide context, without deluging the reader. If you're coming from V1, there are numerous references and comparison to help you sort out the differences.

The table of contents are logically ordered, and if you compare to the previous version, there are a few changes. The size of most chapters is just right, typically 20-30 pages, which enables you to read it in one sitting and go through some of the code samples.

It also helps that Julia is pretty much the authority on EF, and is a very good writer.

One caveat: the code samples are not yet on the book web site (as of 20100905). The book has code excerpts, and some are a bit murky if you don't have the complete code listing. Hopefully this will be remedied soon.

G. Askew
05 September, 2010

Excellent work

I enjoyed reading V2 of this book.

The author delivers the content with a hands-on approach that keeps you interested. There is also the occasional nugget of detailed information at just the right time along the way to provide context, without deluging the reader. If you're coming from V1, there are numerous references and comparison to help you sort out the differences.

The table of contents are logically ordered, and if you compare to the previous version, there are a few changes. The size of most chapters is just right, typically 20-30 pages, which enables you to read it in one sitting and go through some of the code samples.

It also helps that Julia is pretty much the authority on EF, and is a very good writer.


G. Askew
05 September, 2010

Good book, but could have been even better

This book is definitely the best book about EF on the market. Programming EF was second book I read about EF. After reading Jennings's Professional ADO.NET 3.5 with LINQ and the Entity Framework I was little bit confused about some EF topics and this book helped me to get rid of many of those confusions. Especially chapter 2 and 3 about 'philosophy' behind entities and their implementation in EF were excellent.

During reading I found 2 things that could be improved. The first is data model used in samples. It contains about 15 tables/entities with many relationships. Maybe it would be better to have smaller model, or several models focusing on different features of EF instead of one 'big' model at the begining of book. I always had to browse to Chapter 5, where model was described.

The bigger problem was order of chapters. Book starts well with chapters about EF essentials, but then for me little illogically it shifts toward the usage of EF in WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET (chapters 9 and 11). I think these 'technology-special' chapters (and also chapters about stored procedures) should be added at the end of the book, or at least after other extremely importatnt topics like working with relationships (chapter 15), object state manager (chapter 17), or exception handling and concurrency issues (chapter 18).

But even for these two small issues I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn EF in 'why' way. I have already ordered second edition of this book.

Timmy_A
23 August, 2010

Good book, but could have been even better

This book is definitely the best book about EF on the market. Programming EF was second book I read about EF. After reading Jennings's Professional ADO.NET 3.5 with LINQ and the Entity Framework I was little bit confused about some EF topics and this book helped me to get rid of many of those confusions. Especially chapter 2 and 3 about 'philosophy' behind entities and their implementation in EF were excellent.

During reading I found 2 things that could be improved. The first is data model used in samples. It contains about 15 tables/entities with many relationships. Maybe it would be better to have smaller model, or several models focusing on different features of EF instead of one 'big' model at the begining of book. I always had to browse to Chapter 5, where model was described.

The bigger problem was order of chapters. Book starts well with chapters about EF essentials, but then for me little illogically it shifts toward the usage of EF in WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET (chapters 9 and 11). I think these 'technology-special' chapters (and also chapters about stored procedures) should be added at the end of the book, or at least after other extremely importatnt topics like working with relationships (chapter 15), object state manager (chapter 17), or exception handling and concurrency issues (chapter 18).

But even for these two small issues I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn EF in 'why' way. I have already ordered second edition of this book.

Timmy_A
23 August, 2010

Good book, but could have been even better

This book is definitely the best book about EF on the market. Programming EF was second book I read about EF. After reading Jennings's Professional ADO.NET 3.5 with LINQ and the Entity Framework I was little bit confused about some EF topics and this book helped me to get rid of many of those confusions. Especially chapter 2 and 3 about 'philosophy' behind entities and their implementation in EF were excellent.

During reading I found 2 things that could be improved. The first is data model used in samples. It contains about 15 tables/entities with many relationships. Maybe it would be better to have smaller model, or several models focusing on different features of EF instead of one 'big' model at the begining of book. I always had to browse to Chapter 5, where model was described.

The bigger problem was order of chapters. Book starts well with chapters about EF essentials, but then for me little illogically it shifts toward the usage of EF in WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET (chapters 9 and 11). I think these 'technology-special' chapters (and also chapters about stored procedures) should be added at the end of the book, or at least after other extremely importatnt topics like working with relationships (chapter 15), object state manager (chapter 17), or exception handling and concurrency issues (chapter 18).

But even for these two small issues I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn EF in 'why' way. I have already ordered second edition of this book.

Timmy_A
23 August, 2010

Good book, but could have been even better

This book is definitely the best book about EF on the market. Programming EF was second book I read about EF. After reading Jennings's Professional ADO.NET 3.5 with LINQ and the Entity Framework I was little bit confused about some EF topics and this book helped me to get rid of many of those confusions. Especially chapter 2 and 3 about 'philosophy' behind entities and their implementation in EF were excellent.

During reading I found 2 things that could be improved. The first is data model used in samples. It contains about 15 tables/entities with many relationships. Maybe it would be better to have smaller model, or several models focusing on different features of EF instead of one 'big' model at the begining of book. I always had to browse to Chapter 5, where model was described.

The bigger problem was order of chapters. Book starts well with chapters about EF essentials, but then for me little illogically it shifts toward the usage of EF in WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET (chapters 9 and 11). I think these 'technology-special' chapters (and also chapters about stored procedures) should be added at the end of the book, or at least after other extremely importatnt topics like working with relationships (chapter 15), object state manager (chapter 17), or exception handling and concurrency issues (chapter 18).

But even for these two small issues I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn EF in 'why' way. I have already ordered second edition of this book.

Timmy_A
23 August, 2010

Good book, but could have been even better

This book is definitely the best book about EF on the market. Programming EF was second book I read about EF. After reading Jennings's Professional ADO.NET 3.5 with LINQ and the Entity Framework I was little bit confused about some EF topics and this book helped me to get rid of many of those confusions. Especially chapter 2 and 3 about 'philosophy' behind entities and their implementation in EF were excellent.

During reading I found 2 things that could be improved. The first is data model used in samples. It contains about 15 tables/entities with many relationships. Maybe it would be better to have smaller model, or several models focusing on different features of EF instead of one 'big' model at the begining of book. I always had to browse to Chapter 5, where model was described.

The bigger problem was order of chapters. Book starts well with chapters about EF essentials, but then for me little illogically it shifts toward the usage of EF in WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET (chapters 9 and 11). I think these 'technology-special' chapters (and also chapters about stored procedures) should be added at the end of the book, or at least after other extremely importatnt topics like working with relationships (chapter 15), object state manager (chapter 17), or exception handling and concurrency issues (chapter 18).

But even for these two small issues I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn EF in 'why' way. I have already ordered second edition of this book.

Timmy_A
23 August, 2010

Good book, but could have been even better

This book is definitely the best book about EF on the market. Programming EF was second book I read about EF. After reading Jennings's Professional ADO.NET 3.5 with LINQ and the Entity Framework I was little bit confused about some EF topics and this book helped me to get rid of many of those confusions. Especially chapter 2 and 3 about 'philosophy' behind entities and their implementation in EF were excellent.

During reading I found 2 things that could be improved. The first is data model used in samples. It contains about 15 tables/entities with many relationships. Maybe it would be better to have smaller model, or several models focusing on different features of EF instead of one 'big' model at the begining of book. I always had to browse to Chapter 5, where model was described.

The bigger problem was order of chapters. Book starts well with chapters about EF essentials, but then for me little illogically it shifts toward the usage of EF in WinForms, WPF, ASP.NET (chapters 9 and 11). I think these 'technology-special' chapters (and also chapters about stored procedures) should be added at the end of the book, or at least after other extremely importatnt topics like working with relationships (chapter 15), object state manager (chapter 17), or exception handling and concurrency issues (chapter 18).

But even for these two small issues I recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn EF in 'why' way. I have already ordered second edition of this book.

Timmy_A
23 August, 2010

Comprehensive book on EF

If you're looking into learning ADO.NET Entity Framework, this is the book to have. The book is concise, very detailed, and well-written-- and that's usually rare to find in most technical books these days. The author often sheds some insights on remote subjects that are related, and gives the most-straightforward answers. Apart from other technical books, I can really tell that she took a lot of time and effort on making sure that every single topic is well-understood. I felt that she's actually speaking my language instead of trying to impress me with jargon that will just throw me off. Having said that, it's a natural gift to communicate and be able to explain complicate things in the most simple manner. I wish sometimes that every author out there shares the same passion of teaching as her.

Aside from the book being well-written, the combination of screen shots, notes and codes in both VB and C# makes the material easier to "stick". The reason for having both languages is the fact that C# and VB has some language distinctions that may not well translate easily into the other language, and vice-versa. It helps to have both just for reference. The book is filled with every information that you'll need to know to work with Entity Framework, and every options are explored as far as utilizing the available features. People with no experience regarding Entity Framework or LINQ to SQL will be able to pick up things easily since it all starts with the basics and build upon the previous examples.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who are interested in getting to know Entity Framework from the inside-out. The book is well-written and the topics are easy to understand. If you've been wondering about the intricacy of EF such what the underlying metadata does, or how queries are being executed, among other things, then this is it.

Dennis Rongo
26 May, 2010

Comprehensive book on EF

If you're looking into learning ADO.NET Entity Framework, this is the book to have. The book is concise, very detailed, and well-written-- and that's usually rare to find in most technical books these days. The author often sheds some insights on remote subjects that are related, and gives the most-straightforward answers. Apart from other technical books, I can really tell that she took a lot of time and effort on making sure that every single topic is well-understood. I felt that she's actually speaking my language instead of trying to impress me with jargon that will just throw me off. Having said that, it's a natural gift to communicate and be able to explain complicate things in the most simple manner. I wish sometimes that every author out there shares the same passion of teaching as her.

Aside from the book being well-written, the combination of screen shots, notes and codes in both VB and C# makes the material easier to "stick". The reason for having both languages is the fact that C# and VB has some language distinctions that may not well translate easily into the other language, and vice-versa. It helps to have both just for reference. The book is filled with every information that you'll need to know to work with Entity Framework, and every options are explored as far as utilizing the available features. People with no experience regarding Entity Framework or LINQ to SQL will be able to pick up things easily since it all starts with the basics and build upon the previous examples.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who are interested in getting to know Entity Framework from the inside-out. The book is well-written and the topics are easy to understand. If you've been wondering about the intricacy of EF such what the underlying metadata does, or how queries are being executed, among other things, then this is it.

Dennis Rongo
26 May, 2010

Comprehensive book on EF

If you're looking into learning ADO.NET Entity Framework, this is the book to have. The book is concise, very detailed, and well-written-- and that's usually rare to find in most technical books these days. The author often sheds some insights on remote subjects that are related, and gives the most-straightforward answers. Apart from other technical books, I can really tell that she took a lot of time and effort on making sure that every single topic is well-understood. I felt that she's actually speaking my language instead of trying to impress me with jargon that will just throw me off. Having said that, it's a natural gift to communicate and be able to explain complicate things in the most simple manner. I wish sometimes that every author out there shares the same passion of teaching as her.

Aside from the book being well-written, the combination of screen shots, notes and codes in both VB and C# makes the material easier to "stick". The reason for having both languages is the fact that C# and VB has some language distinctions that may not well translate easily into the other language, and vice-versa. It helps to have both just for reference. The book is filled with every information that you'll need to know to work with Entity Framework, and every options are explored as far as utilizing the available features. People with no experience regarding Entity Framework or LINQ to SQL will be able to pick up things easily since it all starts with the basics and build upon the previous examples.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who are interested in getting to know Entity Framework from the inside-out. The book is well-written and the topics are easy to understand. If you've been wondering about the intricacy of EF such what the underlying metadata does, or how queries are being executed, among other things, then this is it.

Dennis Rongo
26 May, 2010

Comprehensive book on EF

If you're looking into learning ADO.NET Entity Framework, this is the book to have. The book is concise, very detailed, and well-written-- and that's usually rare to find in most technical books these days. The author often sheds some insights on remote subjects that are related, and gives the most-straightforward answers. Apart from other technical books, I can really tell that she took a lot of time and effort on making sure that every single topic is well-understood. I felt that she's actually speaking my language instead of trying to impress me with jargon that will just throw me off. Having said that, it's a natural gift to communicate and be able to explain complicate things in the most simple manner. I wish sometimes that every author out there shares the same passion of teaching as her.

Aside from the book being well-written, the combination of screen shots, notes and codes in both VB and C# makes the material easier to "stick". The reason for having both languages is the fact that C# and VB has some language distinctions that may not well translate easily into the other language, and vice-versa. It helps to have both just for reference. The book is filled with every information that you'll need to know to work with Entity Framework, and every options are explored as far as utilizing the available features. People with no experience regarding Entity Framework or LINQ to SQL will be able to pick up things easily since it all starts with the basics and build upon the previous examples.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who are interested in getting to know Entity Framework from the inside-out. The book is well-written and the topics are easy to understand. If you've been wondering about the intricacy of EF such what the underlying metadata does, or how queries are being executed, among other things, then this is it.

Dennis Rongo
26 May, 2010

Comprehensive book on EF

If you're looking into learning ADO.NET Entity Framework, this is the book to have. The book is concise, very detailed, and well-written-- and that's usually rare to find in most technical books these days. The author often sheds some insights on remote subjects that are related, and gives the most-straightforward answers. Apart from other technical books, I can really tell that she took a lot of time and effort on making sure that every single topic is well-understood. I felt that she's actually speaking my language instead of trying to impress me with jargon that will just throw me off. Having said that, it's a natural gift to communicate and be able to explain complicate things in the most simple manner. I wish sometimes that every author out there shares the same passion of teaching as her.

Aside from the book being well-written, the combination of screen shots, notes and codes in both VB and C# makes the material easier to "stick". The reason for having both languages is the fact that C# and VB has some language distinctions that may not well translate easily into the other language, and vice-versa. It helps to have both just for reference. The book is filled with every information that you'll need to know to work with Entity Framework, and every options are explored as far as utilizing the available features. People with no experience regarding Entity Framework or LINQ to SQL will be able to pick up things easily since it all starts with the basics and build upon the previous examples.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who are interested in getting to know Entity Framework from the inside-out. The book is well-written and the topics are easy to understand. If you've been wondering about the intricacy of EF such what the underlying metadata does, or how queries are being executed, among other things, then this is it.

Dennis Rongo
26 May, 2010

Comprehensive book on EF

If you're looking into learning ADO.NET Entity Framework, this is the book to have. The book is concise, very detailed, and well-written-- and that's usually rare to find in most technical books these days. The author often sheds some insights on remote subjects that are related, and gives the most-straightforward answers. Apart from other technical books, I can really tell that she took a lot of time and effort on making sure that every single topic is well-understood. I felt that she's actually speaking my language instead of trying to impress me with jargon that will just throw me off. Having said that, it's a natural gift to communicate and be able to explain complicate things in the most simple manner. I wish sometimes that every author out there shares the same passion of teaching as her.

Aside from the book being well-written, the combination of screen shots, notes and codes in both VB and C# makes the material easier to "stick". The reason for having both languages is the fact that C# and VB has some language distinctions that may not well translate easily into the other language, and vice-versa. It helps to have both just for reference. The book is filled with every information that you'll need to know to work with Entity Framework, and every options are explored as far as utilizing the available features. People with no experience regarding Entity Framework or LINQ to SQL will be able to pick up things easily since it all starts with the basics and build upon the previous examples.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who are interested in getting to know Entity Framework from the inside-out. The book is well-written and the topics are easy to understand. If you've been wondering about the intricacy of EF such what the underlying metadata does, or how queries are being executed, among other things, then this is it.

Dennis Rongo
26 May, 2010

Incisive, thorough and an exciting journey

I bought this book to further my existing knowledge on the Entity Framework. After spending a few months with this technology on some important modules at work, I knew I needed more than just the basics to get me by. I needed something that would truly take my hand and walk me through the inner workings of this data technology that Microsoft is really touting as its stalwart ORM platform for the future. "Programming the Entity Framework" was exactly what I needed. Lucid, precise and detailed in its expression, it covers the fundamentals of this vast technology and takes its readers through a very informative, thorough and practical journey through the Entity Framework. A definite buy for anyone interested in working or currently working with this framework. It is arguable the best book available out there.

Cranialsurge
12 April, 2010

Incisive, thorough and an exciting journey

I bought this book to further my existing knowledge on the Entity Framework. After spending a few months with this technology on some important modules at work, I knew I needed more than just the basics to get me by. I needed something that would truly take my hand and walk me through the inner workings of this data technology that Microsoft is really touting as its stalwart ORM platform for the future. "Programming the Entity Framework" was exactly what I needed. Lucid, precise and detailed in its expression, it covers the fundamentals of this vast technology and takes its readers through a very informative, thorough and practical journey through the Entity Framework. A definite buy for anyone interested in working or currently working with this framework. It is arguable the best book available out there.

Cranialsurge
12 April, 2010

Incisive, thorough and an exciting journey

I bought this book to further my existing knowledge on the Entity Framework. After spending a few months with this technology on some important modules at work, I knew I needed more than just the basics to get me by. I needed something that would truly take my hand and walk me through the inner workings of this data technology that Microsoft is really touting as its stalwart ORM platform for the future. "Programming the Entity Framework" was exactly what I needed. Lucid, precise and detailed in its expression, it covers the fundamentals of this vast technology and takes its readers through a very informative, thorough and practical journey through the Entity Framework. A definite buy for anyone interested in working or currently working with this framework. It is arguable the best book available out there.

Cranialsurge
12 April, 2010

Incisive, thorough and an exciting journey

I bought this book to further my existing knowledge on the Entity Framework. After spending a few months with this technology on some important modules at work, I knew I needed more than just the basics to get me by. I needed something that would truly take my hand and walk me through the inner workings of this data technology that Microsoft is really touting as its stalwart ORM platform for the future. "Programming the Entity Framework" was exactly what I needed. Lucid, precise and detailed in its expression, it covers the fundamentals of this vast technology and takes its readers through a very informative, thorough and practical journey through the Entity Framework. A definite buy for anyone interested in working or currently working with this framework. It is arguable the best book available out there.

Cranialsurge
12 April, 2010

Incisive, thorough and an exciting journey

I bought this book to further my existing knowledge on the Entity Framework. After spending a few months with this technology on some important modules at work, I knew I needed more than just the basics to get me by. I needed something that would truly take my hand and walk me through the inner workings of this data technology that Microsoft is really touting as its stalwart ORM platform for the future. "Programming the Entity Framework" was exactly what I needed. Lucid, precise and detailed in its expression, it covers the fundamentals of this vast technology and takes its readers through a very informative, thorough and practical journey through the Entity Framework. A definite buy for anyone interested in working or currently working with this framework. It is arguable the best book available out there.

Cranialsurge
12 April, 2010

Incisive, thorough and an exciting journey

I bought this book to further my existing knowledge on the Entity Framework. After spending a few months with this technology on some important modules at work, I knew I needed more than just the basics to get me by. I needed something that would truly take my hand and walk me through the inner workings of this data technology that Microsoft is really touting as its stalwart ORM platform for the future. "Programming the Entity Framework" was exactly what I needed. Lucid, precise and detailed in its expression, it covers the fundamentals of this vast technology and takes its readers through a very informative, thorough and practical journey through the Entity Framework. A definite buy for anyone interested in working or currently working with this framework. It is arguable the best book available out there.

Cranialsurge
12 April, 2010

Your Train to the Data Access Future has Arrived!

Over the past 20 years of my career as a software developer, application architects have recommended that enterprise applications be developed using multiple tiers to separate the concerns of the user interface, business logic and data access layers. The challenge for programmers has been to determine how one would actually build and maintain such a beast. Microsoft has addressed part of the data portion of this architecture recommendation by introducing the "Entity Framework" (EF) to the .Net technology stack.

In most cases, databases are designed for the database administrator and not the application developer. The EF allows a programmer to add an Entity Data Model (EDM) to a client application. With an EDM, programmers can create application centric object interfaces to their data sources without having to concern themselves with the nuances of the underlying data structures. The EF takes care of translating these application objects to the SQL statements that interact with the database. So, what will lead us on this journey?

The "Programming Entity Framework" book can be divided into two major sections. Chapters 1-14 provides an introduction to all the major EF concepts while Chapters 15-23 covers advanced topics. There is a website at http://learnentityframework.com/learnentityframework/ that supports the book and allows you to download database scripts and sample applications. (As a side note, I learned from this site that the author has agreed to update her book to cover changes introduced in the 2010 version of Visual Studio.)

I like the fact that Ms. Lerman provides both VB and C# code side by side with all of her examples (my personal goal is to become fluent in both languages). The book is peppered with side notes (designated by three paw prints) that make some clarification or add pertinent information to the page.

I did a search of alternative books that cover this same subject. I investigated the online information provided by Microsoft. None of the books I researched (as well as the Microsoft articles online) came close to the scope and readability of this book. Lerman does a great job of balancing her independent point of view on this subject with the insider tips and information that make for a good read.

The myriad of tools and components contained in the EF are now a strategic part of Microsoft's data access strategy going forward. So don't get left behind. I recommend "Programming Entity Framework" as your train to the data access future. I guess that would make Julia Lerman your Conductor and Engineer on this trip as well ... ;-).


06 December, 2009

Your Train to the Data Access Future has Arrived!

Over the past 20 years of my career as a software developer, application architects have recommended that enterprise applications be developed using multiple tiers to separate the concerns of the user interface, business logic and data access layers. The challenge for programmers has been to determine how one would actually build and maintain such a beast. Microsoft has addressed part of the data portion of this architecture recommendation by introducing the "Entity Framework" (EF) to the .Net technology stack.

In most cases, databases are designed for the database administrator and not the application developer. The EF allows a programmer to add an Entity Data Model (EDM) to a client application. With an EDM, programmers can create application centric object interfaces to their data sources without having to concern themselves with the nuances of the underlying data structures. The EF takes care of translating these application objects to the SQL statements that interact with the database. So, what will lead us on this journey?

The "Programming Entity Framework" book can be divided into two major sections. Chapters 1-14 provides an introduction to all the major EF concepts while Chapters 15-23 covers advanced topics. There is a website at http://learnentityframework.com/learnentityframework/ that supports the book and allows you to download database scripts and sample applications. (As a side note, I learned from this site that the author has agreed to update her book to cover changes introduced in the 2010 version of Visual Studio.)

I like the fact that Ms. Lerman provides both VB and C# code side by side with all of her examples (my personal goal is to become fluent in both languages). The book is peppered with side notes (designated by three paw prints) that make some clarification or add pertinent information to the page.

I did a search of alternative books that cover this same subject. I investigated the online information provided by Microsoft. None of the books I researched (as well as the Microsoft articles online) came close to the scope and readability of this book. Lerman does a great job of balancing her independent point of view on this subject with the insider tips and information that make for a good read.

The myriad of tools and components contained in the EF are now a strategic part of Microsoft's data access strategy going forward. So don't get left behind. I recommend "Programming Entity Framework" as your train to the data access future. I guess that would make Julia Lerman your Conductor and Engineer on this trip as well ... ;-).


06 December, 2009

Your Train to the Data Access Future has Arrived!

Over the past 20 years of my career as a software developer, application architects have recommended that enterprise applications be developed using multiple tiers to separate the concerns of the user interface, business logic and data access layers. The challenge for programmers has been to determine how one would actually build and maintain such a beast. Microsoft has addressed part of the data portion of this architecture recommendation by introducing the "Entity Framework" (EF) to the .Net technology stack.

In most cases, databases are designed for the database administrator and not the application developer. The EF allows a programmer to add an Entity Data Model (EDM) to a client application. With an EDM, programmers can create application centric object interfaces to their data sources without having to concern themselves with the nuances of the underlying data structures. The EF takes care of translating these application objects to the SQL statements that interact with the database. So, what will lead us on this journey?

The "Programming Entity Framework" book can be divided into two major sections. Chapters 1-14 provides an introduction to all the major EF concepts while Chapters 15-23 covers advanced topics. There is a website at http://learnentityframework.com/learnentityframework/ that supports the book and allows you to download database scripts and sample applications. (As a side note, I learned from this site that the author has agreed to update her book to cover changes introduced in the 2010 version of Visual Studio.)

I like the fact that Ms. Lerman provides both VB and C# code side by side with all of her examples (my personal goal is to become fluent in both languages). The book is peppered with side notes (designated by three paw prints) that make some clarification or add pertinent information to the page.

I did a search of alternative books that cover this same subject. I investigated the online information provided by Microsoft. None of the books I researched (as well as the Microsoft articles online) came close to the scope and readability of this book. Lerman does a great job of balancing her independent point of view on this subject with the insider tips and information that make for a good read.

The myriad of tools and components contained in the EF are now a strategic part of Microsoft's data access strategy going forward. So don't get left behind. I recommend "Programming Entity Framework" as your train to the data access future. I guess that would make Julia Lerman your Conductor and Engineer on this trip as well ... ;-).


06 December, 2009

Your Train to the Data Access Future has Arrived!

Over the past 20 years of my career as a software developer, application architects have recommended that enterprise applications be developed using multiple tiers to separate the concerns of the user interface, business logic and data access layers. The challenge for programmers has been to determine how one would actually build and maintain such a beast. Microsoft has addressed part of the data portion of this architecture recommendation by introducing the "Entity Framework" (EF) to the .Net technology stack.

In most cases, databases are designed for the database administrator and not the application developer. The EF allows a programmer to add an Entity Data Model (EDM) to a client application. With an EDM, programmers can create application centric object interfaces to their data sources without having to concern themselves with the nuances of the underlying data structures. The EF takes care of translating these application objects to the SQL statements that interact with the database. So, what will lead us on this journey?

The "Programming Entity Framework" book can be divided into two major sections. Chapters 1-14 provides an introduction to all the major EF concepts while Chapters 15-23 covers advanced topics. There is a website at http://learnentityframework.com/learnentityframework/ that supports the book and allows you to download database scripts and sample applications. (As a side note, I learned from this site that the author has agreed to update her book to cover changes introduced in the 2010 version of Visual Studio.)

I like the fact that Ms. Lerman provides both VB and C# code side by side with all of her examples (my personal goal is to become fluent in both languages). The book is peppered with side notes (designated by three paw prints) that make some clarification or add pertinent information to the page.

I did a search of alternative books that cover this same subject. I investigated the online information provided by Microsoft. None of the books I researched (as well as the Microsoft articles online) came close to the scope and readability of this book. Lerman does a great job of balancing her independent point of view on this subject with the insider tips and information that make for a good read.

The myriad of tools and components contained in the EF are now a strategic part of Microsoft's data access strategy going forward. So don't get left behind. I recommend "Programming Entity Framework" as your train to the data access future. I guess that would make Julia Lerman your Conductor and Engineer on this trip as well ... ;-).


06 December, 2009

Your Train to the Data Access Future has Arrived!

Over the past 20 years of my career as a software developer, application architects have recommended that enterprise applications be developed using multiple tiers to separate the concerns of the user interface, business logic and data access layers. The challenge for programmers has been to determine how one would actually build and maintain such a beast. Microsoft has addressed part of the data portion of this architecture recommendation by introducing the "Entity Framework" (EF) to the .Net technology stack.

In most cases, databases are designed for the database administrator and not the application developer. The EF allows a programmer to add an Entity Data Model (EDM) to a client application. With an EDM, programmers can create application centric object interfaces to their data sources without having to concern themselves with the nuances of the underlying data structures. The EF takes care of translating these application objects to the SQL statements that interact with the database. So, what will lead us on this journey?

The "Programming Entity Framework" book can be divided into two major sections. Chapters 1-14 provides an introduction to all the major EF concepts while Chapters 15-23 covers advanced topics. There is a website at http://learnentityframework.com/learnentityframework/ that supports the book and allows you to download database scripts and sample applications. (As a side note, I learned from this site that the author has agreed to update her book to cover changes introduced in the 2010 version of Visual Studio.)

I like the fact that Ms. Lerman provides both VB and C# code side by side with all of her examples (my personal goal is to become fluent in both languages). The book is peppered with side notes (designated by three paw prints) that make some clarification or add pertinent information to the page.

I did a search of alternative books that cover this same subject. I investigated the online information provided by Microsoft. None of the books I researched (as well as the Microsoft articles online) came close to the scope and readability of this book. Lerman does a great job of balancing her independent point of view on this subject with the insider tips and information that make for a good read.

The myriad of tools and components contained in the EF are now a strategic part of Microsoft's data access strategy going forward. So don't get left behind. I recommend "Programming Entity Framework" as your train to the data access future. I guess that would make Julia Lerman your Conductor and Engineer on this trip as well ... ;-).


06 December, 2009

Your Train to the Data Access Future has Arrived!

Over the past 20 years of my career as a software developer, application architects have recommended that enterprise applications be developed using multiple tiers to separate the concerns of the user interface, business logic and data access layers. The challenge for programmers has been to determine how one would actually build and maintain such a beast. Microsoft has addressed part of the data portion of this architecture recommendation by introducing the "Entity Framework" (EF) to the .Net technology stack.

In most cases, databases are designed for the database administrator and not the application developer. The EF allows a programmer to add an Entity Data Model (EDM) to a client application. With an EDM, programmers can create application centric object interfaces to their data sources without having to concern themselves with the nuances of the underlying data structures. The EF takes care of translating these application objects to the SQL statements that interact with the database. So, what will lead us on this journey?

The "Programming Entity Framework" book can be divided into two major sections. Chapters 1-14 provides an introduction to all the major EF concepts while Chapters 15-23 covers advanced topics. There is a website at http://learnentityframework.com/learnentityframework/ that supports the book and allows you to download database scripts and sample applications. (As a side note, I learned from this site that the author has agreed to update her book to cover changes introduced in the 2010 version of Visual Studio.)

I like the fact that Ms. Lerman provides both VB and C# code side by side with all of her examples (my personal goal is to become fluent in both languages). The book is peppered with side notes (designated by three paw prints) that make some clarification or add pertinent information to the page.

I did a search of alternative books that cover this same subject. I investigated the online information provided by Microsoft. None of the books I researched (as well as the Microsoft articles online) came close to the scope and readability of this book. Lerman does a great job of balancing her independent point of view on this subject with the insider tips and information that make for a good read.

The myriad of tools and components contained in the EF are now a strategic part of Microsoft's data access strategy going forward. So don't get left behind. I recommend "Programming Entity Framework" as your train to the data access future. I guess that would make Julia Lerman your Conductor and Engineer on this trip as well ... ;-).


Kirk Bowman
06 December, 2009

Not well executed, but better than nothing

EF is a reasonably complex topic and I applaud anyone who makes a sincere attempt to write about it. However, months after reading this book, I have decided that it only marginally helped me in my training for EF. It is written in a disjointed fashion as if the author was still puzzling the material even as she was submitting it for publication. If her knowledge of the subject is comprehensive, then the problem is she doesn't have the ability to convey it in a comprehensible way. I got it because there was, and is, still relatively little material on the market about EF. It did help me a little when I decided to use it as an occasional reference; sometimes I found a concept that helped me in isolation. Until a lot more and better quality material information is published, if you must learn EF for a medium to large project, then I recommend getting everything you can get your hands on including this book, but rely more on MSDN, StackOverflow, random Google searches and, of course, experimentation to round out your education.

Where is Stephen Walther when you really need him?

FWIW: The good news is that once you understand EF, it really will change the way you write code, and your applications will absolutely fly.

Software Guy
15 November, 2009

Impressed

I have hundreds of computer books on programming in the last 24 years. This is by without a doubt the best written, most informative on the subject matter of any book I ever purchased. Julia Lerman knows her subject matter and is able to pass her knowledge on without losing the reader along the way. O'Reilly needs to hear more from her! Great author and excellient work! I want to thank Julia Lerman for her time and attention to details she put into this effort! Thanks

Ryan L. Todd
29 October, 2009

Impressed

I have hundreds of computer books on programming in the last 24 years. This is by without a doubt the best written, most informative on the subject matter of any book I ever purchased. Julia Lerman knows her subject matter and is able to pass her knowledge on without losing the reader along the way. O'Reilly needs to hear more from her! Great author and excellient work! I want to thank Julia Lerman for her time and attention to details she put into this effort! Thanks

Ryan L. Todd
29 October, 2009

Impressed

I have hundreds of computer books on programming in the last 24 years. This is by without a doubt the best written, most informative on the subject matter of any book I ever purchased. Julia Lerman knows her subject matter and is able to pass her knowledge on without losing the reader along the way. O'Reilly needs to hear more from her! Great author and excellient work! I want to thank Julia Lerman for her time and attention to details she put into this effort! Thanks

Ryan L. Todd
29 October, 2009

Impressed

I have hundreds of computer books on programming in the last 24 years. This is by without a doubt the best written, most informative on the subject matter of any book I ever purchased. Julia Lerman knows her subject matter and is able to pass her knowledge on without losing the reader along the way. O'Reilly needs to hear more from her! Great author and excellient work! I want to thank Julia Lerman for her time and attention to details she put into this effort! Thanks

Ryan L. Todd
29 October, 2009

Impressed

I have hundreds of computer books on programming in the last 24 years. This is by without a doubt the best written, most informative on the subject matter of any book I ever purchased. Julia Lerman knows her subject matter and is able to pass her knowledge on without losing the reader along the way. O'Reilly needs to hear more from her! Great author and excellient work! I want to thank Julia Lerman for her time and attention to details she put into this effort! Thanks

Ryan L. Todd
29 October, 2009

Impressed

I have hundreds of computer books on programming in the last 24 years. This is by without a doubt the best written, most informative on the subject matter of any book I ever purchased. Julia Lerman knows her subject matter and is able to pass her knowledge on without losing the reader along the way. O'Reilly needs to hear more from her! Great author and excellient work! I want to thank Julia Lerman for her time and attention to details she put into this effort! Thanks

Ryan L. Todd
29 October, 2009

Great book!

This is a great book for both the beginner programmer willing to know about the EF and for the seasoned coder who wants the details of this new data access technology.
Sample code is available in both VB and C#, with good examples and techniques.

Harley O'Brien
14 September, 2009

Great book!

This is a great book for both the beginner programmer willing to know about the EF and for the seasoned coder who wants the details of this new data access technology.
Sample code is available in both VB and C#, with good examples and techniques.

Harley O'Brien
14 September, 2009

Great book!

This is a great book for both the beginner programmer willing to know about the EF and for the seasoned coder who wants the details of this new data access technology.
Sample code is available in both VB and C#, with good examples and techniques.

Harley O'Brien
14 September, 2009