I'm such a fan of LINQPad you don't even know. Recently Joe updated it to support Data Services and as of today, if you scroll down to the bottom of the LINQPad download page, it's been updated to support .NET 4.0 beta 2, which means that you can point it at Data Services constructed with .NET 4.0. This makes my heart sing. Also, if you haven't spent the $29 to get the auto-completion, it's totally worth it. Highly recommended. Thanks, Joe!

This is a nice piece comparing NHibernate and EF4. Personally, I'm an EF4 fan, but I'm hardly unbiased and there are definitely features I want to see added to EF v.Next. Either way, it's clear that EF4 is garnering much more appreciation from the community than previous versions and that's because you let us know what you wanted and we added it. Keep those cards and letters coming!

If you weren’t lucky enough to be able to attend this year’s PDC, not only did you not get a killer laptop, but you didn’t get to see the Data & Modeling talks live and in person. Fortunately, Doug has a nice list of them so you can watch them from the comfort of your own home. Enjoy!

Doug Purdy shows off three features of “Quadrant” from the Nov ’09 SQL Server Modeling CTP bits in two minutes:

• Access to SQL Azure databases
• Creating custom views (including master detail) by mashing views together
• See the “markup” of any view in Quadrant and steal it/change it (just like view source in a Web browser)

Enjoy!

I couldn’t wait for the PDC, so I posted a screen shot of my favorite new three features of “M” for defining domain-specific languages (DSLs) in the November 2009 CTP of “Oslo”:

• Expressions on the right-hand side in language actions to calculate results. “M” supports a rich expression syntax for a variety of data types.

• Data conversion functions for output, one for each of the supported “M” data types.

• DSL debugging mode to let you step through your input data and debug your language.

I can’t wait for you to see it!

In the November 2009 CTP of “Oslo”, we’ve got some new DSL features in “M”, three of which I couldn’t wait for the PDC to brag about.

Notice the following in this screenshot of Intellipad:

• The use of an expression on the right-hand side to calculate the full name from the first and last name from the parsed input: Name => f + ” ” + l (“M” supports a rich expression syntax for a variety of data types).

• The use of ToInteger32 to provide output data conversion of the Age token as different from the default of string (there’s one of these functions for each of the supported “M” data types).

• The orange highlighted text in the left-hand pane shows a breakpoint and notice that Intellipad knows that “yours old.” is a single thing, so highlights the entire phrase. Also notice the “notification” pane on the far right to show what the data is that’s being parsed right now. This indicates that Intellipad is now in DSL debugging mode and lets you step through your input data and debug your language.

You’ll also notice richer error information in the Error List at the bottom of the Intellipad window, but that I could’ve waited to tell you about. : )

All of these “M” features and more can be yours for the low low price of absolutely nothing in the latest CTP of “Oslo”, which you can download on November 17th, the first day of the PDC.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Doug Purdy, my boss and one of the chiefs on the “Oslo” project has just announced the move from codename “Oslo” to SQL Server Modeling, which is the name we’ll be using for starting now for the group of “M”, “Quadrant” and Repository that you’ve come to know and love.

Tune in on November 17th, the first day of the PDC, for the new unified Data Developer Center, which will include all manner of data technologies, including XML, DataReader, DataSet, LINQ to SQL, Data Services (aka “Astoria”) and Entity Framework. One stop shopping!

I was on .NET Rocks! recently talking to Richard and Carl about data in Visual Studio (object-oriented, XML and relational), what tools Microsoft is already providing for managing your SQL Server schema and data migration and where "Oslo" ("M", "Quadrant" and the Repository) fits into the overall picture. It was fun and I think it turned out well. Enjoy.