Is LINQ to SQL deprecated?
Back in late 2008 there was a lot of debate about the future of LINQ to SQL. Many suggested that Microsoft's investments in the Entity Framework in .NET 4.0 were a sign that LINQ to SQL had no future. I figured I'd wait before making my own decision since folks were not in agreement.
Fast-forward 18 months and I've got vendors providing solutions that rely on LINQ to SQL and I have personally given it a try and really enjoyed working with it. I figured it was here to stay.
But I'm reading a new book (C# 4.0 How-To by Ben Watson) and in chapter 21 (LINQ), he suggests that it "has been more or less deprecated by Microsoft" and suggests using LINQ to Entity Framework.
My question to you is whether or not LINQ to SQL is officially deprecated and/or if authoritative entities (Microsoft, Scott Gu, etc.) officially suggest using LINQ to Entities instead of LINQ to SQL.
Answer
For all the "Linq-to-SQL is dead" folks: Scott Guthrie himself clearly mentioned at TechEd Europe that Linq-to-SQL is FULLY SUPPORTED in .NET 4, and Damien Guard posted a blog post on what changes and improvements have been made for Linq-to-SQL in .NET 4.
To quote Mark Twain: "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"......