LINQ To SQL Vs ADO.Net Entity Framework

LINQ To SQL Vs ADO.Net Entity Framework

Both LINQ to SQL and the ADO.NET Entity Framework, support the concept of Entity Data Model.  

LINQ to SQL came first and helped developers to get a feel on how the Entity Data Model works, it was a simple framework and helped users to develop rapid applications using the Entity Data Model concept.

ADO.NET Entity Framework, can be viewed as the next version of LINQ to SQL, this is a more advanced framework to implement Entity Data Model, it has more features compared to LINQ to SQL.

The below table summarizes the difference between LINQ to SQL and the ADO.Net Entity Framework.

Sl. No	LINQ to SQL	ADO.Net Entity Framework
1	Supports only SQL Server Database	Supports multiple data sources
2	Development time is less	Development time is more
3	Allows only a direct 1:1 mapping between the Entity classes and the Relational Tables / Views	Flexible to perform mapping as required, partial tables, merging 2 tables, hence allows a m:n mapping between the Entity classes and the relational tables / views
4	Generates a .dbml to maintain the relation	Generates a .edmx files initially. The relation is maintained using 3 different files  .csdl, .msl and .ssdl

Related Post
Concepts
ADO.NET Entity Framework
ADO.NET Entity Framework Architecture
Entity Data Model
LINQ To SQL Vs ADO.Net Entity Framework

Programming
ADO.Net Entity Data Model Prerequisite
Creating your First ADO.Net Entity Data Model
Selecting Data using ADO.Net Entity Framework
Selecting Data by Joining Tables using ADO.Net Entity Framework
Inserting Data using ADO.Net Entity Framework
Inserting Data with Foreign Key Reference using ADO.Net Entity Framework
Updating Data using ADO.Net Entity Framework
Updating Data with Foreign Key Reference using ADO.Net Entity Framework
Deleting Data using ADO.Net Entity Framework