1.3. A Short Course in ADO.NET

ADO.NET is a set of .NET classes that allow for the connection and manipulation of data. Although our examples in this book primarily use C#, .NET's Common Language Runtime allows for the code to be exceptionally similar, whether you are developing in Visual Basic .NET, C#, Managed C++, or any managed language.^[1]

^[1] Initially Microsoft will provide compilers for Visual Basic, JScript, C#, and C++. In addition third-party developers have written compilers for Eiffel, Perl, Python, Scheme, Smalltalk, COBOL, Component Pascal, APL, Standard ML, Mercury, and Oberon.

1.3.1. ADO.NET Namespaces

.NET classes are separated into namespaces to help segment their specific functionality. Figure 1.1 shows the relationships of these namespaces and the classes within them.