Changing route! HELP plz

[jim2406]

i'd be interested to know if anyone has worked anywhere using the entity framework in a production environment!

i did a couple of internal tool projects a year or so ago that used it, but we decided it was a bit pants, so ended up going the nhibernate/subsonic route.

i remember the designer was very poor - worked OK until you changed something, at which point the XML often didn't regenerate properly, so had to go in and change things by hand etc..

guessing it's in a better state now with 4.0.

[lightng]

I would suggest doing an object oriented programming course first. I'm currently helping a mate do an OU course which covers java, object oriented programming, the basics of UML and an introduction to some design patterns. This is the stage you will find out if you're cut out for development. It'll either click or you'll struggle all the way.

When you've got a solid background in the basics of OO, move onto C sharp and .NET. Very similar syntax to Java so the jump isn't that great. Your main hurdle at this point will be learning the .NET framework. There are also other things that you will need to pick up along the way such as development methodologies, test driven development, automated builds, database development, XML (a bloody big topic in itself), the list goes on and on.

By the way, if you are a good C sharp programmer or VB.NET programmer, you can easily move between the two. I have seen many developers do this successfully and relatively painlessly; I have done so myself. Like I say the framework is the biggest hurdle.

Once you have all the above, you can start looking at the newer .NET frameworks: WPF and Silverlight, WCF, WWF, Entity framework, MVC etc but you really need the basics first.

[lightng]

Top insider tip: There aren't many people with years of MVC, Entity Framework, Data Services etc on their CV as they haven't officially been out for that long! So pile into those and you'll have as much experience as anyone else.

MVC has been out for a while - its a fairly mature pattern. Maybe not the Microsoft one but there have been others in .NET and they're much of a muchness. I created a home brew .NET MVC myself for one contract as the ASP.NET server model just didn't suit the scale of the app.