Programming Entity Framework
ISBN:9780596520281 read summary

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ... ;-).