[Catalyst] What value does an ORM add?

[Drew Wilson]

One more thing I didn't see in other replies: changing schemas.

Using an ORM to generate your SQL makes it easier to update your  
schema without having to search&replace for all SQL references.

I find this especially useful early on in a project when the model is  
changing a lot.

Drew

On Jun 8, 2006, at 8:33 AM, Steve Atkins wrote:

> Not intending to start any sort of rancorous discussion, but I was
> wondering whether someone could illuminate me a little?
>
> I'm comfortable with SQL, and with DBI. I write basic SQL that runs
> just fine on all databases, or more complex SQL when I want to target
> a single database (ususally postgresql).
>
> What value does an ORM add for a user like me?
>
> Some ORMs provide a single interface to the underlying datastore, so
> allow you to cache information in the ORM, as long as you're the only
> app accessing the underlying datastore.
>
> Higher level modules (authentication, say) can target the ORM API and
> not need to worry about database-specific details (although they
> usually use such simple SQL that they could get the same independence
> by using DBI directly it's still a decent implementation choice).
>
> But that seems to be about it.
>
> I know that I don't need to use an ORM with catalyst - I can use DBI
> perfectly well, or even a hybrid system where my code uses DBI and
> other modules use an ORM. But there's so much excitement about ORMs
> that I have to wonder whether I'm missing some big concept about
> them, and there's something they offer that makes development quicker
> even for someone fluent in SQL.
>
> Anyone?
>
> Cheers,
>    Steve
>
>
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