It's funny, but right off the bat in prologue of the book, I talk about how much I hate preambles.

I then go on to say how I always feel compelled to read them, but in the end, they are little more than marketing hype, sales, and stuff like that. I mean, if someone bought the book Hibernate Made Easy, do I really need to tell them why it's so great? If they're reading the book, they need to learn Hibernate, regardless of whether it's good or bad. And for that matter, if I can help them learn Hibernate, they can decide for themselves, and make their own decisions - they don't need my amateur opinion influencing theirs, right?
Anyways, I go on about how much I hate long preambles, until I've got a preamble that itself is unbearably long. Ironic, isn't it?
Hibernate marshals all of its calls into
JDBC SQL code, so, in the end, a SQL call using Hibernate is not different that a SQL call that doesn't use Hibernate. The difference is, a good
Java developer can focus on being a good Java developer, and any other good Java developer can maintain that code that was written by that Java developer. Few SQL or database skills are required.
Sure, you can always find an MIT grad to write crazy SQL queries that run in a millionth of the time that a Hibernate SQL call might take. But what happens when she goes away, and you now need someone to manage her crazy SQL code? You're in
alot of trouble!
The cost of any application is not how much it costs to get it deployed, or how much money an extra bit of RAM will cost. The cost of any application is its long term maintenance and management. That's where you get hit.
With popular frameworks like Hibernate, you'll find training new people, and maintaining existing code becomes much easier. That's a huge benefit.
The key is always using the right technology for the job. Many people have found that Hibernate is the best resource for their particular problem domain, and that is why it keeps gaining in popularity. It's certainly not a one-size-fits-all, and when people don't understand how Hibernate works, they often do things that slows it down or creates too many queries, or causes inefficient database interactions. However, in my experience, when people really understand how Hibernate works, and how it should be used, they love it, and they end up using it in all typse of situations.
-Cameron McKenzie