Entity Framework is an Object Relational Mapping (ORM) framework that gives developers an automated way to sort and access data in databases. It eliminates the necessity for many of the data-access code that developers usually write
Why choose Entity Framework?
The purpose of EF is to allow you to deal with the data from relational databases using an object model that maps directly to your application's business objects.
By reducing the redundant task of persisting data, entity frameworks help developers increase their productivity.
Where does the Entity Framework fit?
The Entity Framework fits basically between the database and the business logic layer. It’s the data access layer where your entity framework fits, it will save the data stored in the properties of business entities, retrieves the data from the database, and convert it to business entities objects automatically.
Advantages of Entity Framework
- Easy to adopt.
- Follow LINQ common query syntax.
- Reduce development time.
- Easy to adopt.
- Follow LINQ common query syntax.
- Reduce development time.
- Reduce development costs.
- Allows to query database in an object-oriented fashion.
EF6
The newest version of the entity framework is EF6.
EF6 is a mature and stable version of the entity framework that runs on the full .NET framework.
Entity Framework 6 solves some issues with entity framework 5, which was a neighbourhood of the framework installed on the system and partly via NuGet extensions. Now the entire entity framework code is in NuGet packages.
EF Core
Entity framework core is an open-source, lightweight, and extensible version of entity framework. It is the most recent version of Entity Framework following EF 6. x.
The EF Core library is designed to be used with .NET Core applications, but it can also be used with any .NET 4.5+ framework-based application.
EF Core supports LINQ queries, updates, schema migrations, and change tracking.
Databases such as SQL Server/Azure SQL Databases, SQLite, Azure Cosmos DB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and lots more can be used with EF Core through its database plugin model.
EF Core Vs EF6
EF Core is a version of Microsoft Entity Framework for .NET Core applications that primarily targets the code-first approach and provides minimal support for the database-first approach since it lacks a visual designer or wizard for the database model.
EF 6 is a stable and mature ORM while EF Core is comparatively new. Microsoft has removed many of the internal dependencies and providers that EF 6 had after rewriting it from the ground up (like SQL client). At the end of the day, which will make EF Core far more extensible and lighter weight.
Entity Framework Core offers a new feature in LINQ to Entities, that allows us to incorporate c# or vb.net functions in the query. In EF6, this was not possible.
Entity Framework Core offers a new feature in LINQ to Entities, that allows us to incorporate c# or vb.net functions in the query. In EF6, this was not possible.
private static void Main (string [] args)
{
var context = new LibraryContext();
var authorsWithSameName = context.Library
. Where (l => l.FirstName == GetName())
. ToList();
}
public static string GetName () {
return "Amount”;
} The GetName() function which is in the above linq query will excute the following in the database.
exec sp_executesql N'SELECT [l].[AuthorId], [l].[DoB], [l].[FirstName],
[l].[BookId], [l].[LastName]
FROM [Library] AS [l]
WHERE [l].[FirstName] = @__GetName_0',N'@__GetName_0 nvarchar(4000)',
@__GetName_0=N'Amount'
Go 
Does EF6 or EF Core make more sense?
What Microsoft EF Core does is, it comes into the middle of everything and provides a feature called dB Context. Entity Framework Core is an extensible version of EF that has a very related capabilities and advantage to EF6. EF Core is a fully rewritten version of the Entity Framework and has many new features not found in EF6.
Conclusion
Although there are many reasons to continue with Entity Framework 6, using Entity Framework with Windows universal platforms, using ASP.NET Core [1.0 to 5.0] on non-Windows-based platforms, and using non-relational data stores all need to be done with Entity Framework Core.
