Generated abstraction v/s dynamic abstraction

The main feature which sets POG apart from other popular object database libraries is that POG generates specific code which allows developers to think of their entire application in terms of objects. On the other hand, the dynamic approach involves using a generic database wrapper which translates given table structures into objects. ActiveRecord, etc are popular libraries which implement this second approach.

Both have their pros and cons, but here’s why we like our approach better:

Speed. Because POG generates specific objects that map to tables in your database, the generated code has already been pre-processed so that the minimum amount of logic is required at run-time. For example, when you call object -> Save(), the POG generated object knows exactly what query to execute. On the other hand, a dynamic wrapper has to calculate and generate sql queries on the fly each time an operation is requested, making the entire process slower.

Objects are master. In the POG school of thought, Objects are the masters and the database is the slave. This differs from the dynamic approach where the database is the master and the objects merely reflect the database schema. While this difference may seem trivial, it underlines our belief that the application should make the rules, not the database. This point is analogous to another popular debate: stored procedures v/s application logic. But we won’t get into that today.

Easier to debug. Once your objects have been generated, they are ‘independent’ and are not affected by the library anymore. The objects are self-sufficient. If you decide to change the way code is generated, it will only affect future objects.

No strings attached. POG generates stand-alone objects. You don’t need to download, learn an entire framework, read pages of API documentation. How you choose to use the generated objects is up to you.

Now, keep in mind that these arguments could also be presented the other way round. So we’re not saying “POG is the solution and that’s the end of it”. Our arguments merely explain what we believe are the advantages POG has over other object – database libraries.

On that note, here’s a humorous article about why frameworks are evil that we’ve stumbled across recently.