Re: learning Hibernate

I don't claim to necessarily be an expert on Hibernate, but I'm a fan. We're using it on a project where I work. Also with Spring 2.0 and JSF. I've never done EJB though, I'm a convert from the dark side. :)  We're moving from VB desktop to web apps on WebLogic. So maybe all those years of doing my own tables, triggers, stored procs, etc. has something to do with why I like Hibernate so much. I think Hibernate is much better than what was traditionally done in VB with either calling stored procedures that we had to maintain or putting the sql code within the vb code. Refactoring is much easier. 

-----Original Message-----
>From: Richard Hammer <[email protected]>
>Sent: Aug 15, 2006 9:12 AM
>To: juglist <[email protected]>
>Subject: [Juglist] learning Hibernate
>
>I have assumed that it would be good to learn Hibernate, mostly because 
>I've seen many job ads in which Hibernate was listed among the desired 
>skills.
>
>So I've been working at it.  I've run a few very simple applications. 
>I've read a lot of online documentation and half of the book _Hibernate 
>In Action_.
>
>It is difficult.  Hibernate does not relieve the developer of the 
>requirement to understand relational databases and SQL.  Rather it adds 
>to what the developer must know.  And it appears to be quite a lot to 
>know.  At this stage I would say that learning Hibernate (after one has 
>learned relational databases and SQL) is more work than learning 
>relational databases and SQL.
>
>To use Hibernate successfully it seems that one needs to learn to think 
>in the Hibernate way, and you can't do that until you've "grown up" in a 
>Hibernate world.
>
>At this point I am still assuming that Hibernate must be a great tool, 
>because so many employers ask for it.
>
>But I have some doubt because, in a parallel development, for years now 
>many job descriptions have asked for experience with EJB.  But does that 
>prove that EJB is a good technology, or only that lots of people have 
>been caught up in EJB hype?  EJB seems to be losing some if its glamor 
>in what I'm reading recently, and I am given doubt that EJB has ever 
>lived up to its promises.  For all I know the enthusiasm over Hibernate 
>may follow the same pattern.
>
>See, I used the word "pattern".  Now hire me.
>
>But, if all this leads up to a question, are there people who are using 
>Hibernate successfully in real, working, mission-critical, applications? 
>  Probably that is a dumb question.  But still it would encourage me to 
>receive an affirmative answer from respectable people on this list whom 
>I know.
>
>Thank you,
>Rich Hammer
>
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