My July 2007 Data Points column has been posted to the MSDN Magazine web site. This edition is titled "ADO.NET Entity Framework Overview".
I wrote this using the March CTP and then revised it using the Orcas Beta 1, so the code included works in the most recently available bits. Knowing that changes are on their way, I tried to focus the article on the concepts and technical aspects of the EF that make ups its foundation. The components such as Object Services, Entity Client, and LINQ to Entities will evolve but are fairly well baked. Aspects I expect to change (although I have no evidence to support it) are the way the entities are implemented. For example, I expect they may evolve into more of a POCO style with no interface nor base class required. This topic has been beaten pretty hard, so I won't add anything further to it for now since I agree with most of what has already been blogged about. There is one piece which I know is on its way, however late to the game it may be ... the EDM Designer.
Anyway ... this article is an overview of how the EF is structured and how its pieces work. I inlcuded some examples as well. It was difficult to keep the word count down on this one ... my first draft had over 7000 words in it (supposed to be about 3000). So we cut it down to a reasonable and digestable size. I hope you enjoy it!
