Hibernate is the most used Object/Relational persistence and query service and It is licensed under the open-source GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). Hibernate not only see the mapping from Java classes to database tables but also provides data query and recovery facilities. Hibernate is free to download.
This Hibernate Tutorial is tailored for both beginners and experienced professionals, It helps you to use Hibernate to create database-based web applications in simple and easy steps and learn fundamental and advanced concepts of Hibernate including setting up Hibernate, mapping Java classes to database tables, performing basic and advanced database operations, utilizing Hibernate Query Language (HQL), and more.

What is Hibernate Framework?
Hibernate is a Java framework, licensed under the open-source GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), and is available for free download. Developed in 2001 by Gavin King, Hibernate was introduced as a groundbreaking alternative to the EJB2-style entity bean approach. By mapping Java objects to database tables, it streamlines data persistence and retrieval without the need for complex SQL queries. With features like automatic transaction management and caching, Hibernate simplifies and optimizes database interactions, making it an indispensable framework for efficient data management in Java applications.
What is JDBC?
JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) provides a set of Java APIs to access the relational databases from the Java program. Java APIs enable programs to execute SQL statements and interact with any SQL database.
JDBC gives a flexible architecture to write a database-independent web application that can execute on different platforms and interact with different DBMS without any change.
An ORM tool simplifies the data creation, data manipulation and data access and It is a programming technique that maps the object to the data stored in the database.
ORM Tool The ORM tool internally uses the JDBC API to interact with the database.
What is JPA?
- Java Persistence API (JPA) is a Java specification that provides specific functionality and is a standard for ORM tools.
- javax.persistence package contains the JPA classes and interfaces.
Hibernate Basics
Core Hibernate
Hibernate Mapping
Hibernate Annotations
Hibernate JPA Annotations:
Hibernate Association Mapping Annotations:
Hibernate with Spring Framework
Hibernate with Database
Hibernate Log4j
Inheritance Mapping
Hibernate Inheritance Mapping Annotations:
Hibernate Advantages
Here are the advantages of Hibernate:
- Hibernate map Java classes to database tables using XML files.
- It provides APIs for storing and retrieving Java objects directly from the database.
- If there is a change in the database, then we just need to change the XML file properties.
- Abstracts out the unknown SQL types and provides a way to work around standard Java Objects.
- It does not require an application server to operate.
- Manipulates Complex relationships of objects in the database.
- Minimizes database access with smart fetching strategies.
- Simple querying of data.
Hibernate Supported Databases
Hibernate supports almost all the major RDBMS. Following is a list of a few of the database engines that are supported by Hibernate −
- HSQL Database Engine
- DB2/NT
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- FrontBase
- Oracle
- Microsoft SQL Server Database
- Sybase SQL Server
- Informix Dynamic Server
Conclusion
Well, it is a time to warp up this amazing Hibernate tutorial, here we've covered the fundamentals of Hibernate, including ORM principles, entity mapping, CRUD operations, querying with HQL and Criteria API, transaction management, and more. Hibernate simplifies database interactions by providing a robust framework that handles object-relational mapping seamlessly. Whether you're developing small-scale applications or large enterprise systems, Hibernate's features like caching, lazy loading, and data retrieval optimizations can significantly improve application performance and maintainability.
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