Beginning C# Databases

Whatever programs you develop, there's one task that you will almost always have to achieve - accessing and manipulating data. This data can be stored in many places, but large quantities of data that need to be frequently accessed are usually stored in relational databases such as SQL Server. Knowing how this data is structured, and how to access and update it, is therefore one of the most important programming tasks the professional programmer needs to learn.

This book is designed to teach those essential skills quickly and painlessly to anyone programming in Microsoft's new C# language. As well as database basics such as the SQL language used to communicate with databases, we cover the specifics of data access using C# in depth. Data access in .net is achieved through the ADO.net classes; these are essentially a replacement for ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), and combine ADO's ease of use with powerful new features such as enhanced XML support. The core of this book consists of a thorough but easy-to-read tutorial to ADO.net.