Databases Intermediate

What is ORM (Object-Relational Mapping)?

A technique that lets you interact with a database using object-oriented code instead of writing raw SQL queries.

ORMs map database tables to classes and rows to objects, abstracting SQL behind a programmatic interface. Instead of writing "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id=1", you write User.find(1) or similar.

Popular ORMs include SQLAlchemy (Python), Eloquent (PHP/Laravel), ActiveRecord (Ruby), Hibernate (Java), and Prisma (JavaScript). ORMs improve productivity but can hide performance issues — knowing SQL remains important.

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PostgreSQL Administration & Performance Tuning

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Related Terms

A middleware server that sits between applications and databases, providing connection pooling, load balancing, and query routing.

A PostgreSQL maintenance operation that reclaims storage from dead tuples and updates statistics for the query planner.

MVCC (Multi-Version Concurrency Control)

A technique where the database maintains multiple versions of data to allow concurrent reads and writes without locking.

A sequence of database operations that are treated as a single unit — either all succeed or all are rolled back.

Database Backup

The process of creating copies of database data to protect against data loss from failures, corruption, or human error.

An open-source, in-memory data store used as a database, cache, message broker, and queue with sub-millisecond response times.

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