Pro LINQ Object Relational Mapping in C# 2008 (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: enterprise library, concrete class, scalar properties, Property Name, Column Name, Visual Studio (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

It is nearly impossible today to write enterprise software without the use of one or more relational databases. Granted, there are cases when the data is transient and not stored in a database, but for the most part, software needs to consume and manipulate data in a database. It sounds easy, but there are hundreds of ways to connect software systems to databases and thousands of people who think they have the skeleton key for data access layers. Pro LINQ Object Relational Mapping in C# 2008 explains an efficient, repeatable way to apply industry design patterns to build scalable object–oriented data access layers.

Object relational mapping (OR/M) has been a gray area in Microsoft development for many years. It’s not that Microsoft language developers don’t understand OR/M; in fact, the opposite is true, as is exemplified by the glut of third–party .NET OR/M tools on the market. The struggle has come more from the lack of native tools with the object–oriented and object persistence capacity to effectively work in this arena. With the inception of .NET, Microsoft overcame the first obstacle by developing an object–oriented environment and framework. The second obstacle, the native object persistence layer, is only now being realized with the introduction of Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and LINQ’s children, the Language Integrated Query for Relational Databases (LINQ to SQL) and the Language Integrated Query for the ADO.NET Entity Framework (LINQ to Entities). The gray area no longer exists, and the .NET developers of the world finally have the native tools required to build modular, reusable data access layers.

What you’ll learn

• The powerful advantages that OR/M can bring to your code
• The native tools that are now available within Visual Studio 2008 for OR/M
• How to build scalable object–oriented data access layers that take advantage of OR/M’s flexibility
• How LINQ fits into this picture, together with the advantages and disadvantages that it can bring
• How the concepts work in the real world by examining a fully worked and detailed case study, created with an architecture than can be easily applied to a wide range of other situations

Who is this book for?

This book is intended for Microsoft .NET developers who are using or evaluating Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 to build data–aware applications, and it will provide patterns and resources that can be used to build enterprise class software.

About the Apress Pro Series

The Apress Pro series books are practical, professional tutorials to keep you on and moving up the professional ladder.

You have gotten the job, now you need to hone your skills in these tough competitive times. The Apress Pro series expands your skills and expertise in exactly the areas you need. Master the content of a Pro book, and you will always be able to get the job done in a professional development project. Written by experts in their field, Pro series books from Apress give you the hard–won solutions to problems you will face in your professional programming career.

About the Author

Vijay P. Mehta has been working as a software engineer and architect for the last 12 years. Starting off in the VC++/ATL, MFC, Win32, and VB6 worlds, Vijay later moved on to Java and .Net development. With his current focus on C# and .Net, Vijay holds a number of Microsoft certifications and has written a number of articles on .Net and Microsoft–focused development. Currently working as an Architect for a financial services software company in Indianapolis, Vijay spends the bulk of his time designing and implementing large, cutting-edge software systems.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Apress (July 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590599659
• ISBN-13: 978-1590599655
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #293,442 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of DDD with LINQ to SQL, July 23, 2008

By	David C. Veeneman (Lincolnshire, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I originally gave this book two stars, because of the lack of source code and support. To the author's credit, he jumped right on those criticisms and has resolved those problems. In light of that, I rate this book four stars.

This book gives a pretty good overview of LINQ to SQL--it's not a bad starting point for those (like myself) who prefer the conventions of Domain-Driven Design. The book isn't really a good primer on DDD, but it isn't meant to be. For that, I'd recommend Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns: With Examples in C# and .NET.

The book includes a case study, 'The Bank of Pluto'. Source code should be available on the Apress website. You will want to have it to go through the last half of the book, which shows excerpts from the code but doesn't always give enough context to be able to figure it out. While it isn't a complete reference application, the Bank of Pluto example has enough detail to get most programmers up and running.

The book covers both LINQ to SQL, the basic ORM provided by Mictosoft, and the ADO.NET Entity Framework, a more robust framework that can be used as an ORM. It separates it's discussion of the two technologies, which is a good thing. The initial release of the EF is proving quite controversial, with many DDD enthusiasts complaining that it is too database-oriented and "not ready for prime time". Given the controversey, I am passing on EF until Rev. 2.0, at least, so I skipped the EF chapters in the book. That still left me with a good discussion of LINQ to SQL that stands well on its own.

As the text points out LINQ to SQL works pretty well in small-to-mid-size applications, and it can be used successfully in domain-driven designs. It does have problems with complex, enterprise-level domain models. Nonetheless, if you are a domain-driven designer, this book provides a nice introduction to LINQ to SQL and how to integrate it into your application architecture.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars so glad i bought this book!, August 1, 2008

By	Techie Evan - See all my reviews

The first two chapters of this book start out with a discussion of Domain-Driven Design (DDD) Principles, what Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) Tools are, the role of ORMs in DDD-informed application development, and criteria for evaluating ORM tools. Chapters Three through Seven then provide a quick tour of LINQ to SQL and ADO.Net Entity Framework (Beta 3 Version) basics. It's not until Chapter Eight that things become interesting (at least to me). After describing the functionalities that he wants to implement in the running banking application sample, the author provides plenty of code demonstrating the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the two ORM tools, potential gotchas and workarounds, lessons learned, and recommended best practices in architecting N-Tier Applications. The author's writing style is conversational, which is good most of the time, except for those few occasions when he seemed to have switched from one topic to another rather abruptly. Overall, a great book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good overview of LINQ, L2SQL, and EF as a DataLayer, August 26, 2008

By	Corey Gaudin - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read a majority of this book, and it is a very good overview for using Linq to Sql and Entity Framework as a Data Access Layer. It does a good job of going through several scenarios. The only lacking thing in this book is something that you will learn in practice using this stuff in a real world application, and finally learn some of the limitations of EF and Linq To Sql. But what it does cover is very solid, but expect to learn some nuances with EF on your own.