8.17. Summary

I have to admit that I had heard nothing but bad things about EF before I starting writing this chapter, so I wasn't looking forward to it. However, after working with EF for some time, I really like it.

I am cautious, however, with recommending its use, since Microsoft can be fickle with its data access strategies. I would consider that a mature open source solution such as NHibernate probably has less chance of being dropped and has a large community to support it and offer advice. Thus, NHibernate could be a safer option from a future-proofing point of view. However, EF has some great features, good GUI support, and IDE integration and will be more than suitable for many projects.

In conclusion, although EF is not as feature-rich as some of its competitors, it is arguably easier to use, it integrates well with other Microsoft technologies, and it performs well (see http://gregdoesit.com/2009/08/nhibernate-vs-entity-framework-a-performance-test), so I heartily recommend you investigate it further.