Is there a reason for using the Repository pattern with Entity Framework if I know I will only ever use EF?

Question

From reading various books and articles, I seem to rather often find the usage of the Repository-pattern suggested. I get the point if you need to be able to swap out your d

Answer 1

What people don't realize is that EF is already an Repository and Unit-of-Work.

Repository has become an anti-pattern because the criteria of its usage was never met in the first place. Never use a design pattern because its cool or trendy or trying to build your resume, in fact this should be a standard rule for all design patterns.

Only build a Repository and Unit-of-Work on top of EF if your application is

• very large (lasagna layer)
• long-lived (10 years or so)
• has more than 5 developers working in parallel
• has developers that are separated geographically
• requires a lot of maintenance
• multiple data access infrastructures

A good indication is when upgrading from EF5 to EF6 requires you to knock on everybody's door.