In this chapter, we saw that the .NET Framework offers a range of data access mechanisms. The original interface-based API supports direct database access. The Entity Framework makes it easier for C# code to work with data from the database, as well as providing some support for controlling the mapping between the database and the object model representing the data. And WCF Data Services is able to take some or all of an Entity Data Model and present it over HTTP, with either AtomPub or JSON, thus making your data available to AJAX and Silverlight clients.