This article concentrates on applied use of ADO.NET, so I assume you're comfortable with "classic" ADO and already have at least a high-level understanding of ADO.NET and its DataSet, DataTable, DataRow, DataColumn, DataAdapter, Command, and Connection objects. I also assume you understand that these last three objects come in both generic OLE DB versions as well as SQL Server-specific versions. I'll be using the SQL-specific versions in this article, but the techniques apply to both. I won't be looking at the DataView or DataReader objects here, but knowing about these objects won't hurt. If you lack the "prerequisites" for this article but feel you can pick up stuff from context, you're certainly encouraged to do so.