What is the difference between eager loading and lazy loading in Entity Framework?

Eager loading and lazy loading are two different approaches to fetching related data in Entity Framework.

Eager Loading:

Eager loading is the process of loading all the related entities along with the main entity in a single database query. This is achieved using the Include() method in Entity Framework. Eager loading helps in reducing the number of database queries and is suitable when you know upfront that you will need the related data.

Lazy Loading:

Lazy loading is the process of delaying the loading of related entities until they are actually accessed in the code. With lazy loading, Entity Framework only loads related entities when they are requested, which can lead to additional database queries as the related entities are accessed. Lazy loading is efficient in scenarios where you may not always need the related data and want to minimize data retrieval upfront.

Overall, the key difference between eager loading and lazy loading is the timing of when the related entities are loaded - eager loading loads all related entities upfront, while lazy loading loads related entities on-demand.