Pro LINQ Object Relational Mapping with C# 2008 (Expert's Voice in .NET) [Paperback]

Vijay Mehta (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590599659 | ISBN-13: 978-1590599655 | Publication Date: July 7, 2008 | Edition: 1

Object Relational Mapping (ORM) has been a huge part of software development in other areas of the programming market for a long time (most notably in Java with Hibernate). The popularity of third-party tools such as nHibernate for Windows development shows that Windows developers are aware of these techniques and eager to try them, but until now there have been no native tools released by Microsoft to give them easy access to this methodology. With the release of Visual Studio 2008 this is changing and native tools are now available for the first time through the new LINQ data access layer resulting in great interest amongst .NET developers.

This book aims to give experienced .NET developers a thorough grounding in Object Relational Mapping methodologies and show how LINQ can be used to achieve them. It is split into two parts. The first provides a detailed explanation of the key concepts and technologies, while the second brings them to life in a detailed fictional case study using an architecture that can be easily adapted to a wide range of reader’s circumstances.

Editorial Reviews

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++, 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 a Product Architect for Baker Hill, an Experian company in Indianapolis, Vijay spends the bulk of his time designing and implementing large, leading-edge software systems

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (July 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590599659
• ISBN-13: 978-1590599655
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 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 Best Sellers Rank: #994,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 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 (Southern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pro LINQ Object Relational Mapping with C# 2008 (Expert's Voice in .NET) (Paperback)

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

This review is from: Pro LINQ Object Relational Mapping with C# 2008 (Expert's Voice in .NET) (Paperback)

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
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This review is from: Pro LINQ Object Relational Mapping with C# 2008 (Expert's Voice in .NET) (Paperback)

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.