I'd like to learn more about the author's background with ORMs and especially activerecord ... I know SQL pretty well, in fact when I started using Rails, I insisted on still writing my own SQL queries by hand.
ActiveRecord might be an anti-pattern, or it might not ... I really couldn't care less, what I do know is that I enjoy dealing with the database using active record far more than error prone dynamically constructed SQL queries I was doing back in my PHP days.
It makes my life as a coder easier ... I mean, have you ever tried to construct a really complex search function on a web app using SQL? ... its a pain and a half. ActiveRecord makes stuff like that much easier (named scopes in Rails especially)
Yes, if you don't understand databases, you're going to use an ORM in shameful ways, but it works well ... very well, if you know what you're doing and you take the time to learn your craft.
I'm glad to have ActiveRecord in my tool belt every morning when I get to work and that ... is what really matters to me.
ActiveRecord might be an anti-pattern, or it might not ... I really couldn't care less, what I do know is that I enjoy dealing with the database using active record far more than error prone dynamically constructed SQL queries I was doing back in my PHP days.
It makes my life as a coder easier ... I mean, have you ever tried to construct a really complex search function on a web app using SQL? ... its a pain and a half. ActiveRecord makes stuff like that much easier (named scopes in Rails especially)
Yes, if you don't understand databases, you're going to use an ORM in shameful ways, but it works well ... very well, if you know what you're doing and you take the time to learn your craft.
I'm glad to have ActiveRecord in my tool belt every morning when I get to work and that ... is what really matters to me.