Speed O/R Mapping with LINQ to SQL: Table 1: Compare LINQ to SQL and Entity Framework. -- Visual Studio Magazine

Speed O/R Mapping with LINQ to SQL: Table 1: Compare LINQ to SQL and Entity Framework.

11/19/2008

LINQ to SQL and Entity Framework (EF) are both object/relational mapping (O/RM) tools for .NET, so it's not surprising that they share many common features. This table compares the most significant differences between the two O/RM implementations, including times to instantiate a LINQ to SQL DataContext and EF ObjectContext of a 120-table SQL Server 2005 structure-only database. The EF team is in the process of designing EF/Entity Data Model version 2; there's been no official mention of a version upgrade for LINQ to SQL.

Feature	LINQ to SQL	Entity Framework/Entity Data Model
Supported databases	SQL Server 200x (Express, Compact) only	SQL Server 200x (Express, Compact) and other relational databases with an EF-enabled ADO.NET managed data provider
Data model	1:1 relationship enforced between tables and entities	Tables can be mapped to multiple entities and vice versa
Model-first design	Not available	Not available (promised in version 2)
Update Model for Data Store Schema Changes	Requires third-party add-in utility	Supported
Plain Old CLR Object (POCO) classes	Optional (by mapping file)	By unsupported code generator
N-tier deployment	Not out-of-the-box	By unsupported code modifications
DataContract serialization of cyclic object graphs	Requires unsupported Text Template Transformation Toolkit (T4) code-generator template	Supported
Inheritance models	Table per Hierarchy (TPH) only	TPH, Table per Class (TPC), and Table per Concrete Class (TPCC)
Association loading methods	Deferred/lazy (default) and eager	Eager (optional), deferred by unsupported code modifications
Many-to-many relationships	Not supported (require a relation table)	Supported (don't require a relation table)
Foreign-key values	Visible	Not visible (visible promised in version 2)
Query language(s)	LINQ to SQL, direct execution	LINQ to Entities, Entity SQL, query builder methods
Stored procedure support	CRUD sprocs supported in the designer	T-SQL CRUD sprocs supported in the designer; other DBs unknown
DAL for ADO.NET Data Services ("Astoria")	Read-only (without implementing IUpdatable<T>)	Default DAL (full read/write support)
DAL for ASP.NET Dynamic Data	Default DAL (full read/write support)	Requires a workaround
Generate a 120-table model in the designer	22 seconds	50 seconds
120-table startup time (cold)	0.394 second	9.426 seconds
120-table startup time, T4 compiled view (cold)	N/A	2.063 seconds
120-table startup time (cached)	0.004 second	0.021 second
EntityType name singularization	Automatic (optional)	Manual
EntitySet name pluralization	Automatic (optional)	"Set" prefix added if EntityType name is manually singularized (English-only, forced, not optional)
Support for new SQL Server 2008 data types	Date, Time, DateTime2, DateTimeOffset, Filestream	Date, Time, DateTime2, DateTimeOffset, Filestream

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