Java Frameworks War: Spring and Hibernate

Question

My developers are waging a civil war. In one camp, they\'ve embraced Hibernate and Spring. In the other camp, they\'ve denounced frameworks - they\'re considering Hibernate

Answer 1

I've done a lot of Spring/Hibernate development. Over time the way people used both in combination has changed a bit. The original HibernateTemplate approach has proved to be difficult to debug since it swallows and wraps otherwise useful exceptions; talk to the Hiberante API directly!

Please keep looking at the generated SQL (configure your development logging to show SQL). Having an abstraction layer to the database doesn't mean you don't have to think in SQL anymore; you won't get good performance if you otherwise.

Consider the project. I've choosen iBatis over Hibernate on several occasions where we had stringent performance requirements, complex legacy schemas or good DBa's capable of writing excellent SQL.

Answer 2

I have always found Hibernate to be a bit complex and hard to learn. But as JPA (Java Persistence API) and EJB (Enterprise Java Beans) 3.0 has existed for a while things have gotten a lot easier, I much prefer annotating my classes to create mappings via JavaDoc or XML. Check out the support in Hibernate. The added bonus is that it is possible (but not effortless) to change the database framework later on if needed. I have used OpenJPA with great results.

Lately I have been using JCR (Java Content Repository) more and more. I love the way that my modules can share a single data storage and that I can let the structure and properties evolve. I find it a lot easier working with nodes and properties rather that mapping my objects to a database. A good implementation is Jackrabbit.

As for Spring, it has a lot of features I like, but the amount of XML needed to configure means I will never use it. Instead I utilize Guice and absolutely love it.

To roundup, I would show your doubting developers how Hibernate will make their life easier. As for Spring I would seriously check if Guice is a viable alternative and then try to show how Spring/Guice makes development better and easier.

Answer 3

If you have a fairly complex database, Hibernate may not be for you. At work we have a fairly complex database with lots of data, and Hibernate doesn't really work for us. We've started using iBATIS instead. However, I know a lot of development shops who use Hibernate successfully - and it does do a lot of grunt work for you - so it's worth considering.

Spring is a good tool if you know how to use it properly.

I would say that frameworks are definitely a good thing - like others have pointed out, you don't want to reinvent the wheel. Spring contains a lot of modules which will mean you won't have to write so much code. Don't succumb to the "Not Invented Here" syndrome!

Answer 4

In my opinion, the biggest advantage of Spring is that it encourages and enables better development practices, in particular loose coupling, testing, and more interfaces. Hibernate without Spring can be really painful, but the two together are very useful.

Retrofitting an existing project to any framework is going to be painful, but the refactoring process often has serious benefits for long-term maintainability.

Answer 5

Hibernate has quirks to be sure but that is because the problem it is trying to solve is complex. Every time someone complains about Hibernate I remind them of all of the boring DAO code that they would have to maintain if they weren't using it.

A few tips:

• Hibernate is no substitute for a good database design. Hibernate schemas are OK but you will have to tweak them occasionally
• Eventually you are going to have to understand how Hibernate lazy loads classes and how that affects things. Hibernate modifies the Java bytecode and you will need to delve into the depths sooner or later if only to explain why object links are null.
• Use annotations if you can.
• Take the time to learn the Hibernate performance tuning techniques, it will save you in the long run.

Answer 6

Frameworks are not evil. even the Java SDK is a framework.

What they probably fight is framework proliferation. You shouldn't bring a framework to a project just for the kick of it, it should bring consistent value in a reasonable time. Every framework requires a learning curve, but should reward you with increased productivity and features later on.

If you struggle with code that is hard to debug because of inconsistent database usage, complicated cache mechanisms, or a myriad of other reasons. Hibernate will add great value. apart from the learning curve (which took about 1 month of practical work for me) there weren't any pitfalls, provided you have someone around to explain the basics for you.