The future of iBatis

I am glad a book such as "iBatis in Action" is coming out soon. I have tried using iBatis and I liked the experience.

I find Hibernate too focused on the OO side of things and somehow neglected the fact that we are still dealing with 2 dimensional relational DB. I find that iBatis balances the focus by not trying to shield the programmer from the DB completely (like what Hibernate is trying to achieve).

The fact is, the DB is still central to many applications. And the RDBMS is often the most expensive single piece of software in an app system.

As far as I know, Hibernate is currently taking the lead in the Object Relational Mapping space. To the "iBatis in Action" authors, do you see iBatis overtaking Hibernate in the near future ?

I like iBatis and I would really like to know the future of iBatis... at least from the eyes of the authors.

Thanks.
[ December 05, 2006: Message edited by: Timothy Toe ]

The iBATIS crew is a very practical crew. If there is a need for iBATIS it will continue to exist. With that said, iBATIS will continue to be a viable framework because it adapts to advances and changes in Java. If Java were to provide features in the JRE that are better than or equal to iBATIS' we would seek to phase out our features in place of standards. So the worst that could happen is that iBATIS would become simpler. And that's not such a bad thing. Another note is that we have .NET and Ruby implementations of iBATIS. Each of the implementation have their own advantages on their particular platform that cross seed ideas that can/should be implemented on the other platforms. iBATIS is here for the long haul.

Brandon

Brandon, thanks for the reply.

Another note is that we have .NET and Ruby implementations of iBATIS.

Does iBATIS in Action cover all 3 implementations ? Do you intend to have 3 different books for each implementation ?

I'll quote Clinton from another post cuz i'm lazy

"The book is Java focused. We mention .NET a lot and have an appendix to get .NETters started. There is only a slight mention of the Ruby version."

I would expect a book that covers iBATIS.NET at some point. But I am not aware of any plans.

The book is Java focused.

Good for Java guys then.

By the way, just curious, how did iBatis started ? Did it start from Java then "spread" to .Net and Ruby ?

Thanks again.

Yes, the java implementation was first, followed by iBATIS.NET, then the others (ruby, and a partial implementation in php).

Originally posted by Brandon Goodin:
If Java were to provide features in the JRE that are better than or equal to iBATIS' we would seek to phase out our features in place of standards.

This alone tells me that the iBATIS crew has their head in the right place.

I gave Hibernate a shot (or two or three) and didn't care for it. I found it fragile, a bit overbearing and it felt like trying to play the piano wearing mittens. It turned out to be quicker and easier for me to use straight-up JDBC.

I'll think I'll be giving iBATIS a shot in my next DB-centric project.

If Java were to provide features in the JRE that are better than or equal to iBATIS' we would seek to phase out our features in place of standards.

And looking at Sun's history (ok, the JCP) of what standards they think should be provided I don't think we have to worry too much about that happening. Of course, with Java open source, make iBatis part of the JRE.

Just kidding of course, sort of.

trying to play the piano wearing mittens

Bibeault, this phrase of yours is funny

It turned out to be quicker and easier for me to use straight-up JDBC. I'll think I'll be giving iBATIS a shot in my next DB-centric project.

Ya... for people who are used to coding against the DB with SQL etc, iBatis is more suitable than Hibernate with iBatis giving more control...and Hibernate can be frustrating. But then Hibernate is there for those who don't want to bother themselves with DB details.

I personally like SQL/JDBC...and so, I naturally liked what I find in iBatis.