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ORM Goes Open Source
grd000 writes "I have been using Olero Software's Object Relational Mapping and Code Generation Tool (ORM) for Microsoft .NET for the last year or so with great success. I'm delighted to say that yesterday, the Olero folks decided to release their $495 tool as open source. I'm not sure what prompted the decision. Sluggish sales? In any event, this is a boon for .NET developers.
ORM speeds up development by generating a C# or VB-targeted object based on a given database schema. Inserts, updates and deletes can be performed using simple or complex criteria in just a few lines of source code, and with transactional support."
It appears to use Windows.Forms which isn't really supported on Mono yet. However, Novell has a team working hard on a new Windows.Forms implementation, so it's just a matter of time...
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As far as I can tell, this isn't a library, but a code generator so being under GPL makes little difference for daily use. Output from GPL software is *not* constrained by the GPL, only changes to the code generator *itself* would have to be given back to the community, not any project that used generated code.
Or has Microsoft etc all done such a good job of convincing people the GPL is evil that you think that using GCC or the GIMP means my code/image is somehow GPLed by magic?
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One-time Object Relational Mapping code generation is only useful if you get the data structure right first time and the requirements don't change. This rarely happens, in my experience. Martin Fowler's (of Refactoring, Analysis Patterns fame) employer offer a consultancy service (I read in one of Fowler's articles) for automatic DB change management, tied in with code changes. The other way to do it is all at runtime and in code, but you need runtime support for class creation etc. (like in CLOS-MOP). This works by having the simplest, most general way of accessing data, but you have to handle all the possibilities at runtime.
Summary: needs way of keeping generated code in synch with changing DB schema.
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I think it's probably due to a couple factors. First of all, Mono is generally a more complete and compatible implementation (Windows.Forms aside) of .NET. Secondly, the project has been more vocal and is being lead by Miguel de Icaza @ Novell. Personally I think it's a bit of a shame that Portable.NET exists. I wish those developers would join the Mono effort and move things along faster. But that's just my opinion.
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