[tsimionescu]

In the end, if you're writing in a non-relational language, using a relational database, and processing/using the DB responses in any way other than just returning them to the user, then you will have an ORM layer/library somewhere. Whether you should be using an off-the-shelf one or not is a different question, but you can't really escape the need to Map between your Object and Relational models (substitute Object for Datatype or Struct if you prefer).