the difference between ADO.NET and Entity Framework

Question

what is the difference between ADO.NET and Entity Framework?and which is better?

Thiruppathi R · Answer

Hi just share my working experiance for you. ADO.NET Entity Framework is best for small and Long term application.you can use data model as the application attributes. Multiple conceptual model can be a mapping single storage schema. you can refer this URL: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb399572(v=vs.100).aspx

Jitendra Shekhawat · Answer

Hello Fathy; This is very good query you have posted here. This has been a topic of discussion for long without any strong and final decision as there is nothing called the best approach in this scenario. We follow what has been followed the most. Now coming back to your first point. 1- We know that EF is called ADO.NET EF which means that EF sits on top of the ADO.NET , which tells us that it cant be faster than ADO.NET. But remember the power of LINQ which EF provides the developers. It is really powerful when comes with EF. Since EF encapsulates ADO.NET at the background it used ADO.NET only, but the question comes why EF then?? Yes if we use EF and LINQ then the maintainability and code redundancy reduces as we donot have to write the big queries anymore like SP and all. 2-See the connection and dispose of connection is a very vital thing to keep in mind. When we use EF then the context objects are used to connect to the database and for the operation in the LINQs. So when we create a new instance of the context using the "using" then it by default disposes the context when ever the use is over. Also now when we are using Dependency Injection tool like Ninject, they do the disposing internally using the IDisposable extension. So under the belt the connection gets disposed, but sometimes not immediately. 3- Async methods are good to use when you know the flow properly and sure of it. For example you need to send emails to say 50 persons, then if that is not run on the background then it would eat up a lot of time and memory. SMTP connection is not that fast. So better use async methods so that it runs on the background. But for single methods which will just return you an object which will be used then, avoid/donot use Async in this case, as we are unsure of the thread execution on the background. So better first try and know the scenario and then use async methods. I hope I could explain something to you. Accept if this helps you understand anyway. Thanks again.

Sameer Shaik · Answer

I would like to add few more points, Entity Framework reduces your development time, improves Code readability, Type Safety. But you should know when to use Entity framework as it has few performance factors. http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/forums/adonet-vs-entity-framework-performance-point http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15107992/performance-analyze-ado-net-and-entity-framework

Gnanavel Sekar · Answer

Hi Fathy, ADO.NET entity is an ORM (object relational mapping) which creates a higher abstract object model over ADO.NET components. So rather than getting into dataset, datatables, command, and connection objects as shown in the below code, you work on higher level domain objects like customers, suppliers, etc. DataTable table = adoDs.Tables[0]; for (int j = 0; j { DataRow row = table.Rows[j]; // Get the values of the fields string CustomerName = (string)row["Customername"]; string CustomerCode = (string)row["CustomerCode"]; } Below is the code for Entity Framework in which we are working on higher level domain objects like customer rather than with base level ADO.NET components (like dataset, datareader, command, connection objects, etc.). foreach (Customer objCust in obj.Customers) {} The main and the only benefit of EF is it auto-generates code for the Model (middle layer), Data Access Layer, and mapping code, thus reducing a lot of development time. For More, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/27270124/entity-framework-vs-ado-net https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dsimmons/2008/05/17/why-use-the-entity-framework/ https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/3dbcba3d-1677-4757-9cef-2e3d260c7a82/difference-between-adonet-ef-and-adonet?forum=adodotnetentityframework https://forums.asp.net/t/1946047.aspx?understanding+the+difference+in+ado+net+and+entityframework