If you've used EF or any object-relational mapper (ORM) earlier, you may skim this section and move on to the next section. But if you're new to ORM frameworks, this section is for you.
An ORM such as EF makes it easy for you to interact with your database from within your application code. The following screenshot illustrates ORM:
It's perfectly feasible to build a fully functional web application without any ORM at all. You could use straight ADO.NET or raw SQL to talk to your database from your application code. You could write SQL code to create your database objects and relationships. You could keep all your database logic in the database by heavy use of stored procedures and functions or you could use an ORM such as EF and take advantage of a Code First approach.
While database administrators might scoff at the use of an ORM, developers should feel confident that they will gain more power and control of how their database entities are...