Chapter 1. Elements of Database Applications

If Life is a Tree, it could have arisen from an inexorable, automatic rebuilding process in which designs would accumulate over time.

—Daniel C. Dennett, Darwin's Dangerous Idea

Once upon a time, database programming on the Java platform was an exercise in native programming; nothing existed within the Java platform to support database programming efforts. The first tool in the database programming arsenal arrived in March 1996 in the form of Java's first proposed enterprise API, JDBC. JDBC enabled application developers to use a single API to access any database from any vendor.

JDBC, however, is the start—not the end—of database programming. JDBC simply enables you to access a database; it does not address all elements of database programming. It does not:

• Ensure your database meets the need of your application

• Automate the mapping of Java classes into relational entities

• Provide a model for structuring your Java components

• Manage application transactions

This book is about database programming; it is not about JDBC. However, because JDBC plays such a critical role in database programming, it will play a critical role in this book. If you need to brush up on your JDBC skills, take a look at the tutorial in Chapter 11 or my earlier book, Database Programming with JDBC and Java (O'Reilly). This book addresses all of the elements of database programming and their respective roles in supporting real world database applications.