Backdrop now has a consistent way of performing all CRUD functions for entities, as well as accessing entity properties such as label, revision, id, etc.

This applies to:
Taxonomy Term (and Vocabulary) entities
User
Node
File

Example implementation:
Create a User entity:

$account = entity_create('user', array());
$account->status = 0;
$account->roles = array(DRUPAL_AUTHENTICATED_RID => 1);
$account->save();
Introduced in branch: 
1.0.x
Introduced in version: 
1.0.0
Impacts: 
Architects, Administrators, Editors
Module developers