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by philtaylor
3729 days ago
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We feel it's a pretty big problem. Are you familiar with Object Relational Mapping (ORM) in the database world? In the past, we coded our solutions direclty to the database technology (MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server). I think you'll find most modern solutions leverage an ORM to decouple the database. We are doing the same thing with APIs. Think Email, SMS, Push Notifications, Analytics, Payments, Object Storage and on and on. In each of these verticals there a re multiple providers/APIs that offer similar features. Then think about version to version migrations, mobile and IOT devices. The problem space is pretty big. |
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a.) a number of new databases have come out recently that don't fit nicely into the SQL query paradigm
b.) many of the early ORMs (Hibernate, ActiveRecord, etc.) had terrible performance and that unfortunately has tarnished the reputation of all ORMs.
and c.) people try to use an abstraction layer, and then they actually switch databases and find out that the abstraction layer hasn't actually saved them any work.
It remains a contentious topic. Most programmers I know who learned to program in the 2000s think that you're crazy if you don't use an ORM, and setting yourself up for a lot of pain. Most programmers I know who learned to program in the 2010s think that you're out of touch if you do, and missing out on many of the new features in their favorite database. Most programmers I know who learned to program in the 1980s look on with amusement, because they know that the tech industry is driven by fads and you're screwed no matter what you do, so just muddle your way through it as best you can.
Be aware of this as you craft your messaging to different groups: this is not an effective comparison for the post-Node, post-mobile-app developers I know.