>>>I've posted a link to an interesting article by Rick Strahl that explains times when LinqToSql’s native behavior of “Lazy Loading” is not a good thing (from a database performance standpoint), and explains a pre-fetching technique that you can can use when you want to avoid lazy loading hits to SQL Server.
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>>>http://therealmattslay.blogspot.com/2009/10/linq-to-sql-lazy-loading-and.html
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>>Hi,
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>>I've started using the Entity Framework. Not a big jump from Linq-to-Sql but it gives you a lot more control over 'lazy' v 'eager' loading.
>>Don't forget that Linq-to-Sql is pretty much relegated.........
>
>Indeed, they've said that LinqToSql was kind of dead, but at least they did do a little work on it for .Net 4 framework. That's encouraging to me. I think a LOT of people use LinqToSql, and I personally think it will pick up even more, rather than die off. It has a fine place in small-to-mid sized apps, and I frequently hear plenty of notables in the community speak of it.

I liked Linq-to-Sql too but I've only used it in production for some simple web services. It was certainly ideal for that. But, given that Entity Framework is an altogether more heavyweight option, it is still possible to use it in a smple Linq-to-Sql fashion.

>Here's is an artcle on the LinqToSql .Net 4 updates:
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> http://damieng.com/blog/2009/06/01/linq-to-sql-changes-in-net-4

It's a long list. But it seems that only the 'Usability' section mentions any extended functionality - everything else either fixes stability issues or improves performance (which is of course no bad thing :-)

Don't get me wrong - I really like Linq-to-Sql and working with EF ocassionally drives me nuts but at the end of the day that's the one MS are pushing. Compare this list of NET4 changes : http://blogs.msdn.com/adonet/archive/2009/05/21/updated-entity-framework-documentation-for-beta1.aspx

>(By the way, someone has even built a LinqToVFP thingy on CodePlex: http://linqtovfp.codeplex.com/)

Interesting, Best,
Viv