Search notes:

ADO.NET

ADO.NET is found in the System.Data namespace.
The central class is System.Data.DataTable, another class is System.Data.DataSet.

.NET Framework Data Providers

A *.NET Framework Data Provider* establishes connections to a data source and executes (SQL-) statements («commands») on the data source via the connection.
Depending on the data source, a *.NET Framework Data Provider* needs to be chosen. Some commonly seen providers are:
Name Namesapace Comments
.NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server System.Data.SqlClient
.NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB System.Data.OleDb
.NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC System.Data.Odbc
.NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle System.Data.OracleClient deprecated
Oracle Data Provider for .NET Oracle.DataAccess.Client
EntityClient Provider System.Data.EntityClient connect to Entity Data Models (EDM).
.NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server Compact 4.0. System.Data.SqlServerCe
The main types/classes in a .NET Framework Data Provider are
Base type Comment
System.Data.Common.DbConnection establish a connection to a data source and transport data from and to it.
System.Data.Common.DbCommand send commands, typically SQL statements to a database that the client is connect to using a DbConnection
System.Data.Common.DbDataReader process a DbCommand result set, typically a select statement
System.Data.Common.DbDataAdapter fills a System.Data.DataSet using a DbConnection and synchronizes changed data with the data source after updating it in the DataSet
A .NET Framework Data Provider typically derives its types from these base classes.
Other relevant types are:

LINQ

There are three ADO.NET LINQ technologies:

Index