What is ObjectDB? How is it different than an ORM like Hibernate?

Question

In ObjectDB I see that: ( here is the link. )

ObjectDB is a powerful object oriented database management system (ODBMS).

I see that it implements JPA, so does it mean it is supposed to be an ORM provider? Or not? What is the difference?

Answer 1

An ORM (Object-Relational Mapper) maps objects from an object-oriented world to an RDBMS's relational paradigm. From the ObjectDB description and features list, it can be seen that ObjectDB is not an RDBMS but an ODBMS. So it is not an ORM. Nonetheless, this database exposes ORM-y APIs to interact with Java.

Answer 2

ObjectDB is a unique NoSQL database. It doesn't have the issues and limitations that other NoSQL databases have.

You don't really have to learn a new language or anything as it provides an implementation for standard JPA annotations and methods. Basic SQL knowledge is fine as long as you know Java.

ObjectDB is really just a objectdb.jar file which will generate a database file in the respective jar's directory and then you just use Java Beans which act as your "database tables".

ObjectDB is not an ORM and does not require an ORM which is why it's so much faster than ORM's can ever be.