[baq]

sqlalchemy allows you to separate ORM from SQL and combine them when needed. the idea that 'ORM == you don't have to write SQL and/or you can't write SQL' is, please excuse my strong words here, wrong.

my biggest gripe with sqlalchemy is that sometimes I know what I need to write in SQL (have a working prototype usually) and have trouble mapping the concept to sqlalchemy.core constructs, but that's mostly inexperience.