About this Book
iBATIS is all about simplicity. There was a time when I said, “If I ever need to write a book about iBATIS, I’m doing something wrong.” And here I am, writing a book about iBATIS. It turns out that no matter how simple something is, a book is sometimes the best way to learn about it. There’s a lot of speculation these days that books might be replaced by e-books or by a jack in the back of our head that uploads information in a matter of seconds. Neither of those sounds terribly comfortable. I like books because they’re portable and flexible. I can write on them, bend the pages, crack the spine. Nothing would make me happier than to see a well-worn copy of iBATIS in Action littering the floor of a busy developer’s office. Success.
CLINTON BEGIN
We hope that this book will keep the theme of iBATIS simplicity, but sometimes abstract concepts require more words. Certain chapters may be long and drawn out if you’re not concerned with theory. Other chapters will be quick and to the point as if to say, “Here’s how it works, and here’s an example—now get to it.”
The book assumes some knowledge. We expect you to know Java. We won’t pull any punches here. This should not be the first or second Java book you’ve read. You should have felt the pain of using JDBC and possibly even experienced some of the pitfalls of O/RM.