8.2. Why Use EF?
The following sections cover the benefits of using an ORM solution, although please note that some of these advantages are not EF-specific—excellent (and more mature) alternatives do exist. Probably the best-known and one of the most mature ORM solutions in the .NET world is NHibernate. You can, however, view an extensive list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_object-relational_mapping_software.
8.2.1. Abstraction
Data is generally held in a relational manner that is optimized for storage and quick retrieval (well, in most cases it should be). However, this format tends to not map that easily to how we want to work with the entities involved. ORM solutions can provide a conceptual mapping that allows you to organize your ...
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