Using Microsoft's ADO.NET Entity Framework, developers can create an entity relationship model of the database (ie SQL Server) inside Visual Studio 2008.

DataDirect Connect for ADO.NET now supports Oracle 11g R2, SQL Server 2008, and DB2 iSeries V6R1. A complete list of database provider features is available online.

SQLite is a lightweight database engine written in C. Designed to be cross-platform, it doesn't have any external dependencies and only takes about 250 KB of disk space. Though it doesn't support ...

You can boost performance in server-side apps by using COM+ pooled objects to cache resources. Be sure to enlist the connection manually each time the object pool picks up the object.

The book also makes stops along the way to discuss XML, relational database concepts, and commonly used SQL statements. If you're a developer, chances are you'll need to access data—and that means ...