3. Understanding the Hibernate ORM

• Introduction:
  • Hibernate is a popular Java-based ORM framework implementing the JPA specification.
  • It abstracts database interactions, allowing developers to work directly with Java objects.
• Key Features:
  • Automatic Table Mapping: Maps Java classes to database tables using annotations or XML configurations.
  • Query Language: Hibernate Query Language (HQL) and support for native SQL queries.
  • Caching: First-level and second-level caching for performance optimization.
  • Lazy Loading: Loads associated objects only when accessed.
• Architecture Overview:
  • Core components: Session, Transaction, Query, and Configuration.
  • Configuration file (hibernate.cfg.xml) or Java-based configuration.
• Hibernate with JPA:
  • JPA annotations like @Entity, @Id, @GeneratedValue are supported.
  • Allows switching between different JPA-compliant providers.

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