When you write a LINQ to Entities query today, the Entity Framework walks over the expression tree generated by the C#/VB compiler and translates (or compiles) that into SQL. Compiling the expression tree into SQL involves some overhead though, particularly for more complex queries. In order...

The Entity Framework's provider model makes it possible for it to work over different database's. The idea being that someone, either the database vendor or a third party, can write a provider that allows the Entity Framework to work with that database. The Entity Framework asks the provider to...