Is ADO.NET the only native way to access databases in .net?

I have used code like this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dw70f090.aspx to access database before when working in ASP.NET (2-3 years ago). I didn't realize I was working with ADO.NET.

I am just a bit confused...is there another way data in a dat开发者_StackOverflowabase can be accessed? How else would you do it?

It's possible to write code against a database using a non-ADO.NET interface. For example, SQLite provides a C api which one could program against. It's very unusual though. ADO.NET provides a standard interface so if all providers implement these interfaces it's much easier for developers to use.

you can use linq to sql for accessing database in newer version of .net.

You can use EnterpriseLibrary but I think it is also based on ADO.Net. You can also write data access assembly on other languange and add it as reference on your .Net project.