Do you enjoy writing software, except for the database code? Hibernate:A Developer's Notebook is for you. Database experts may enjoy fiddling with SQL, but you don't have to--the rest of the application is the fun part. And even database experts dread the tedious plumbing and typographical spaghetti needed to put their SQL into a Java program. Hibernate: A Developers Notebook shows you how to use Hibernate to automate persistence: you write natural Java objects and some simple configuration files, and Hibernate automates all the interaction between your objects and the database. You don't even need to know the database is there, and you can change from one database to another simply by changing a few statements in a configuration file. Hibernate: A Developer's Notebook walks you through the ins and outs of using Hibernate, from installation and configuration, to complex associations and composite types. Two chapters explore ways to write sophisticated queries, which you can express either through a pure Java API, or with an SQL-inspired, but object-oriented, query language. Don't let that intimidate you though: one of the biggest surprises in working with Hibernate is that for many of the common real-world application scenarios, you don't need an explicit query at all. If you've needed to add a database backend to your application, don't put it off. It's much more fun than it used to be, and Hibernate: A Developer's Notebook shows you why. Here's what a few reviewers had to say: "I'm sitting on an airplane after finishing Hibernate: A Developer's Notebook. It's rare to find a book on a new Java technology that you can get through on a domestic flight. That this notebook effectively and succinctly tackles object-relational mapping makes it, and Hibernate, even more impressive. Many books in this category would need to be checked luggage. With this book, you travel first class." --Mike Clark "A simple persistence framework deserves a simple book, and this one delivers. The examples are well described and easy to understand, yet sophisticated enough to demonstrate Hibernate in a real-world context. Jim, I'm a new fan." --Bruce Tate About the new Developer's Notebook Series from O'Reilly: Developer's Notebooks are a new book series covering important new tools for software developers. Developer's Notebooks stress example over explanation and practice over theory. They are about learning by doing; by experimenting with tools and discovering what works. "All lab, no lecture," with a thoughtful lab partner to guide the way.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 42 Ratings

error & outdated - 2007-07-11
Reviewer Rating:
not only is this book pretty outdated as it only focuses on hibernate2 and not the newer release hibernate3 which is not backwards compatible... there was also a "serious technical error" early on in the book that set me back a while... google the corrections if you use this book.

the writing style was decent... i wouldn't mind reading an newer updated copy

Don't buy this book (unless you want to learn yesteryear's technology) - 2009-04-05
Reviewer Rating:
This book looked really promising: a nice, quick guide to get you started ASAP on Hibernate. However, when I started to try to download Hibernate, I became aware that the book is based on Hibernate 2, while the current version is 3.3. Although I thought version 3.3 would be backwards compatible, it was not. Since I didn't want to learn a technology 4 years old, I tried to adapt the examples to version 3.3. In the end, I finished the book only to be aware of the legacy of Hibernate 2. Finally, the book always assumes that you are building a totally new database, which, in the enterprise environment, is rarely the case. Coverage of legacy databases is light or null. You might want to take a look to the book "Java Persistence with Hibernate", which is one of the most comprehensive books I've seen about dealing with legacy databases.

Nothing more or less than it should be - 2009-01-29
Reviewer Rating:
In the first chapter I learned more than I could scrape together for free from the Internet. For me that means the book is worth its money. The fourth star I give because the book is well written and good to read. The fifth star is for the attractiveness of the book.
As most programming books there are quite a number of lengthy code fragments. Although in this book, new code fragments are given as extentions to previous fragments where possible.
I could take away the fifth star because the book doesn't go very deep into bi-directional reflexive associations in Hibernate. However, so far I haven't seen a good discussion on that subject anywhere. On many other subjects, this book at least hints or points in the direction of further learning which makes it a very useful book.

Good Introduction, use Harnessing Hibernate which contains this book's update version - 2009-01-27
Reviewer Rating:
A very good introduction to Hibernate, covers Java version of it including XML & Annotations. However, buy or read "Harnessing Hibernate" instead as it contains an updated version of this book and a complete new section on other technologies such as Spring, Maven, etc.

A Must Have for Hibernate Developers - 2008-05-10
Reviewer Rating:
When doing projects that use mapping files, everyone gets a copy of this book. It is exactly what it is - a good handbook about Hibernate.

The only drawback to this book is that it covers only mapping files, without any focus on annotations.

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