>read something on one blog today while researching typed data sets that seems they are at odds with business objects, so I'm still sorting this all out. All part of the learning process.
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>That's a long-standing argument. ;)
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>Seems that half love them, half hate them. I use them. IMO, you can develop 10 different types of apps with typed datasets, and yield different productivity gains.
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>The power of the new List class in VS2005 makes custom collections a 'better choice' than in VS2003.
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>Someone raised a point that sometimes a language is chosen for you (e.g. you come into a project where the language has already been chosen). Same applies here....some projects are going to use typed DataSets, some will use custom collections (and some use both!). My two cents is to use them, but also familiarize yourself with custom collections.

I agree. I was about to cast my vote against typed datasets, but then I though about the many times I used them... It all depends on the context, really.

When you are working on a Domain Model for a complex application, I really prefer to stay away of datasets and use a good DAL, sometimes with an ORM, always resorting to hand-pulling when things get over the ORM. I'm playing with LINQ now, having a great chance to use it in a real-life project with a long-term delivery date that allows me to do that.

But when you are building things like reporting, huge data handling with less complex business logic, etc, typed datasets can be great.

It is like coffee or tea. You can have one or the other depending on the moment, even while you can usually prefer a beer. 8-)

Regards,