Re: learning Hibernate

We're using OJB from Apache instead.   I didn't make this decision, but 
from what I've heard of Hibernate I think it was a good one.  AFAIK the 
big difference between OJB and Hibernate is that there is *no* query 
language in OJB.  It's all object-based, using the Interpreter pattern 
to build a query.

OJB is pretty nice because all you have to learn is another XML config 
file and a new API.  Programming nowadays in Java is always about 
learning a new XML config file and an API, right?

Another nice thing is that OJB plays nice with an older system.  We're 
currently moving our old JDBC factory objects over to OJB.  It's nice to 
be able to write JUnit tests against the factory interface, create a new 
OJB implementation that replaces the JDBC impl, and then use Spring to 
determine which one to use at runtime.  We can ensure that the new OJB 
implementation works the same and performs the same as the JDBC impl 
with JUnit, and if we have to, we can roll back to the old 
implementation.  (We had to do that at one point.  Now we're fixing the 
bug and will be able to move back to OJB in the next release.)  (IoC ftw!)

So my caveats -- I'm pretty experienced with SQL, and I'm pretty 
inexperienced with Hibernate.  I'm not recommending OJB over Hibernate. 
  I'm just saying that we're having good success with OJB.

Hope this helps,
Larry

Richard Hammer wrote:
> 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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-- 
Larry Karnowski
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