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Book Review – Entity Framework Tutorial

Entity Framework is a popular topic among developers. Entity Framework Tutorial is a latest book published by Packt Publishing. The book has been authored by Joydip Kanjilal, who has several .NET books to his credit.

Entity Framework Tutorial is divided into 9 chapters. The first chapter provides a basic introduction to Entity Framework architectural components. The author also provides a brief coverage of the new features of Entity Framework 7.

Chapter 2 examines the steps required to design UserAuthentication database, creation of EDM and a short coverage of various DataSource controls. The author also demonstrates the relevant steps to implement a first application using EF.

You will learn the concept of entities, entity types and relationships in addition to coverage of mapping details window, entity model browser and various EDM layers in chapter 3.

Entity Framework Tutorial

Chapter 4 provides a detailed coverage of stored procedures in the entity data model. The chapter discusses creation of stored procedures and mapping stored procedures to functions and custom entity types.

Chapter 5 provides detailed coverage of Entity SQL language. The chapter covers features, operators, expressions, identifiers, variables and parameters in addition to canonical functions in E-SQL. You will also learn advanced concepts such as data paging and transaction management.

The remaining chapters provide a detailed coverage of LINQ, Object Services Layer and WCF Data Services. Towards the end of Chapter 7, the author examines the steps required to read, insert, edit and delete objects from the security database.

Entity Framework Tutorial includes an appendix which provides coverage of several REST based service frameworks. This includes Ruby on Rails, Restlet, Django Rest, Flickr Rest API, Google API, Yahoo Social REST APIs in addition to the concept of OData. Moreover, the appendix also provides coverage of HTTP methods, request and response codes. The author also provides a brief coverage of new features included with Entity Framework 7 in addition to suggested references for expanding your knowledge.

In Page 209, the author provides a comprehensive coverage of REST attributes which I hope will be useful for advanced .NET developers.

The book includes numerous code samples along with relevant images. You will find less number of images on the book due to the nature of the subject. I highly recommend Entity Framework Tutorial for aspiring .NET developers.

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