Hibernate is an Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) framework for Java that lets developers map Java objects (entities) to relational database tables.
- It abstracts away the boilerplate JDBC code needed for CRUD operations.
- Provides a powerful query language (HQL) and Criteria API.
- Handles database connections, transactions, caching, and advanced features like inheritance mapping.
- By automating the mapping between Java classes and database tables, Hibernate significantly reduces development time, improves maintainability, and allows you to work with data in an object-oriented way, rather than manually writing SQL.
✅ Key benefits:
- Eliminates most boilerplate JDBC code.
- Supports automatic table creation/update with
hbm2ddl.auto. - Manages object states (transient, persistent, detached).
- Supports lazy/eager loading, caching, and advanced association mappings.