I've used lots of methods to transform data between databases and object code. From hand-coded SQL to JDO to EJB. I've never found a method I liked particularly well. This distaste has become especially acute since adopting test-driven development (TDD) as a guiding philosophy.

Unit-testing should have as few barriers as possible. For relational databases those barriers range from external dependencies (is the database running?) to speed to keeping the relational schema synchronized with your object model. For these reasons it is vital to keep database access code away from the core object model and to test as much as possible without touching a real database.

Author: Alex Vollmer
Published: TheServerSide, April 2005