Question

Up to now in my programming career (two years) I have not had much database experience, but the company where I now work uses databases extensively for their product, and I feel behind the curve.

So I would like to know how best to start learning database interaction with C#. I’ve read about LINQ-to-SQL and ADO.net. Are these the right technologies to look into?

Where do I start?

EDIT: Thanks for all the responses. There were many good ones – I had a hard time choosing one as “the” answer. This helps me greatly!

Answer 1

I would suggest investing your time in learning Microsoft SQL Server itself, Data Access Application Block from Enterprise Library and ADO.NET Entity Framework.

Entry point for learning SQL Server is here -> SQL Server Developer Center
Entry point for learning ADO.NET is here -> Learning ADO.NET at MSDN

First of all, in order to gain a good understanding of what ADO.NET is, check the links below:

• ADO.NET at Wikipedia
• ADO.NET Entity Framework at Wikipedia

Learn how to write direct queries in C# to SQL Server without using any frameworks and ORM tools, then proceed to learning more advanced technologies in ADO.NET family.

See also:

• Data Access Application Block at MSDN
• The ADO.NET Entity Framework Overview at MSDN
• Learn ADO.NET Entity Framework (“How Do I” videos and more)
• Videos, Screencasts, Tutorials at ASP.NET
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008: ADO.NET Entity Framework

You may also want to download LINQPad, which is perfect tool for playing with LINQ.

Also I suggest subscribing to ADO.NET related RSS feeds:

• ADO.NET Team Blog at MSDN

Also check existing open source projects at CodePlex.com which use these technologies and digg into their source codes.

Great books on the subject for you:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Fundamentals by Itzik Ben-gan (Oct, 2008)
• Programming Entity Framework by Julia Lerman (Feb, 2009)
• Murach’s ADO.NET 3.5, LINQ, and the Entity Framework by Anne Boehm (Mar, 2009)