Visual Studio 2010 ADO.NET Data Model vs Linq to SQL

Question

What's the difference between the two? They seem to have the same functionality at first glance. Which one has faster performance which one is easier to use?

Answer 1

Using ADO.NET and some kind of SQL:

• advantage: Doesn't require any sort of configuration or modeling.
• advantage: Is more efficient, as long as you know how to write and optimize SQL. It's faster to begin with, and is easier to further optimize down the road if necessary.
• requires: more sql knowledge (not bad to have anyway)
• requires: a bit of infrastructure/tooling to cut down on repetitive coding
• argument in favor: If you're good with sql, have a good data accessing tooling, and are just putting your data somewhere else right away as soon as you get it, there's nothing compelling about Linq-to-SQL.

Using Linq-to-Sql

• advantage: Can be quite easy to read/understand, even with limited linq experience.
• advantage: Can quickly give you strong types that you can work with right away.
• advantage: You find your errors more often in Visual Studio before or at compile-time. With plain old ado you find you mistakes at run-time.
• requires: setting up the Schema
• requires: knowledge of linq (which you want to have anyway)
• argument in favor: many are finding that Linq performance penalty is not that big, and doesn't end up being a problem. Further, the sql linq comes up with is sometimes better than what you come up with, even if you fancy yourself a sql pro. (Stackoverflow is a big site, and it's Linq-to-sql seems to hold up just fine.)

In short, both are pretty good options. Key factors are:

1. Your skillsets: If you're strong in SQL (and code generation), there's less reason to use Linq-to-SQL.
2. You db load challenges: If you don't have to share a puny database server some other solutions, and you're not huge, Linq-to-Sql is plenty powerful enough.

Being good at SQL will be important for a long time. And, getting good at LINQ is a really good move. Linq-to-XML and Linq-to-Objects are fantastic technologies, and skill with one flavor translates straight to other Linq flavors.

Answer 2

The big advantage to me is that you get a decent object model of your database for free, without having to write redundant "make an object that looks kind of like this table" code and even more redundant "fill this object with data" code.

Its not perfect, but it sure saves a lot of time.