Why a New Object Library for Data Access?

A database application programming interface (API) is a software library that programmers use to perform useful work with a database. Prior to Microsoft.NET, many Web developers on the Microsoft platform used a database API called ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), a COM library that enabled access to data sources.

A notoriously cranky lot, database programmers tend to be irked when the database access API they use is changed. This is because so much depends on the database layer operating correctly and efficiently. The situation is exacerbated when the current database API works well and the new API doesn't provide many compelling benefits.

The version of ADO used by application developers prior to Microsoft.NET ...

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