it's really not as much about the querying (though there is a lot of time-saving automation to be had there) as it is about integrating the data in your object model with the tuples being shuttled to/from the database. Like, at what point do you get sick of writing redundant "INSERT INTO <table>" over and over again? Are there really people who still don't see the time-wasting, code-cluttering repetition in that?
I'm still amazed that there are developers who would rather spend more time maintaining/debugging/optimizing ORM code in a mature app that just learning a simple INSERT statement.
who would rather spend more time maintaining/debugging/optimizing ORM code
But that's kind of the point- with a decent ORM library there isn't really much work to do.
model = MyModel.load(id)
Add a new field to your model? It'll handle it. It might even modify the table for you. With raw SQL you'd have to go and edit your UPDATE and INSERT statements each time. Seems like a lot more maintenance/potential debugging to me.
SQL is rarely about a lot more than CRUD and tables. I would think that over 95% of the SQL code ever written has been CRUD operations.
ORMs exist to simplify CRUD operations. If you are trying to do something that is a not a CRUD operation then you'd be mad to try and use an ORM to do it.
Because in my experience, the "maintaining/debugging" step is almost non-existent (isn't that the point of the ORM?), and the "optimizing" step hasn't been an issue for the traffic our sites get.
> the "maintaining/debugging" step is almost non-existent (isn't that the point of the ORM?)
Nobody can agree on the point of ORMs, which is a large part of the reason why there's so much debate over whether to use them and how. I must say, if their point is to eliminate maintenance and debugging, then they are failing miserably at it.
