Sharepoint Developer Notes

clipped from msdn.microsoft.com
An external list is a new feature in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 that enables accessing data from external systems in the same way that SharePoint list data is accessed. External lists use external content types as their data sources. External lists enable you to use the metadata that is already defined about an [...]

clipped from msdn.microsoft.com
Business Connectivity Services (formerly named the Business Data Catalog) provides read/write access to external data from line-of-business (LOB) systems, Web services, databases, and other external systems within Microsoft SharePoint 2010. SharePoint 2010 has product features that can use external data directly, both online and offline. Developers can gain access to a rich set [...]