Is the Entity Framework basically another CRUD code generator?

Question

Is entity framework just a fancy name for another CRUD code generator?

Or is there more to it?

Answer 1

Thats sort of like saying object oriented programming is basically proceedural with a few modifications. While EF is NOT considered the best example of object relational mapping, the principles it attempts to cover have been in use for almost 30 years. I recommend reading Dr. Raymond Chen on the Entity Relationship Model ( he developed it and has a paper on it.) Wikipedia has some info as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entity_relationship_model. The best tool on the market for this approach is LLBLGen. It has 5 years of maturity and runs circles around MS EF.

Answer 2

The Entity Framework is suitable for all applications which would benefit from having an ORM (object relational mapping) layer. Daniel Simmons post goes into detail on this. http://blogs.msdn.com/dsimmons/archive/2008/05/17/why-use-the-entity-framework.aspx

The EF allows you to have classes which contain business logic not related to persistence through usage of partial classes (this approach is not specific to the EF however).

We have complex domain objects which do validation and support complex business rules which are also persisted in part via EF so this is more than CRUD at heart.