Many years ago, I wrote Pro ADO.NET 2.0. I still think that in the plethora of new data access technologies that have come out since, the basic core ADO.NET fundamentals are still every developer must know, and sadly they do not know. So for some crazy reason, I still see every project make the same data access related mistakes over and over again. Anyway, the challenge is that on top of the core ADO.NET fundamentals, there is a vast array of other new technologies you must learn. The important of which is Entity Framework.

So, I was asked to, and I was pleased to be the technical reviewer for Microsoft ADO.NET 4, Step by Step, by Tim Patrick. This book introduces the reader not just to the basic ADO.NET principles, but also Entity Framework, LINQ to SQL, and WCF Data Services.

So what you may ask is a SharePoint guy like me doing with such interest in ADO.NET land? Well, that’s what the other side says, what is a hardcore data access sorta guy doing in SharePoint land? :). I have authored/co-authored 4 books so far on data access (1,2,3,4), and one on pure SharePoint, and now one on SharePoint 2010 BI. These are very intertwined topics. And LINQ to SQL and LINQ to SharePoint are almost copy paste of each other. WCF Data services are literally the same in both. And many Entity Framework concepts also apply within SharePoint. So there, I did these both for “interest” reasons.

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