...I took another look at db4o, a pure object store for Java and .NET. It did not take me long to realise the advantages for small projects. Java code to open a store and save an object consists of only a few lines, and with no need for mapping or any kind of “instrumentation” of classes; at least not just to get going or for small applications. I decided to try this using Groovy.
The incredible simplicity of this hit me immediately. Suddenly all those paragraphs of instructions about how to set up different databases for RoR, and all the rules of how to configure different types of relational connections beteen classes looked very tedious, especially as Rails was supposed to be the great time-saver.
So, I am going to start a long-term project, that I will report on here. The aim is to see how simple Grails could be with an object database; without the use of Hibernate or JPA; without ORM at all.
Steve Zara and Jonathan Harley, directors of UK software consultancy company Zac Parkplatz Ltd.
http://www.jroller.com/ThoughtPark/entry/rails_and_grails_without_the