Is Entity Framework worth moving to for a new small app?

Is Entity Framework worth moving to for a new small app? About 10 tables and a WinForms app.

ie开发者_如何学Go the alternative being DataTables/DataRows or Linq-to-SQL

I'm going to disagree with those who say that LINQ to SQL is preferable for a small project, based on real-world experience using both LINQ to SQL and the Entity Framework for small projects. I have a really hard time getting over LINQ to SQL's incredibly weak schema update scenario (throw away your old model, re-generate a new one, and re-apply your customizations). You can do what you need to do with both tools, for the most part, but if your DB schema will ever change or evolve you'll spend way too much time fiddling with the L2S designer.

The best reason to avoid the Entity Framework is if you don't understand it. I'm not being flip here; if you do understand L2S and you don't understand the EF, then by all means use L2S; you will probably be more productive. But if you understand both tools, the EF can do nearly everything that L2S can do and much, much more (easy model updates, model-first, code-first models, customizable codegen, RIA services, etc., etc...).

Entity Framework is a great product - but it's clearly designed for more advanced, more complex cases, where you need to be able to have a domain object model that is or can be different from your underlying storage model. If you need that - great - but for most smaller apps, this is total overkill and only adds additional layers of performance killers.

For a small app, go with Linq-to-SQL - or have a look at Subsonic. Those both offer quite thin and very simple layers on top of your tables, and they work great for smaller apps.

DataTables are so 1990's .... stay away, they're messy, they're hard to use, they're not pleasant and not efficient to work with.

I would probably go for LINQ to SQL for a small project.

Stay away from datatables. LINQ to SQL should be enough, IMO.