<s>
Apache	B-Application
Empire-db	I-Application
is	O
a	O
Java	B-Language
library	O
that	O
provides	O
a	O
high	O
level	O
object-oriented	O
API	O
for	O
accessing	O
relational	B-Application
database	I-Application
management	I-Application
systems	I-Application
(	O
RDBMS	O
)	O
through	O
JDBC	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Apache	B-Application
Empire-db	I-Application
is	O
open	O
source	O
and	O
provided	O
under	O
the	O
Apache	B-Application
License	I-Application
2.0	I-Application
from	O
the	O
Apache	O
Software	O
Foundation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compared	O
to	O
Object-relational	B-General_Concept
mapping	I-General_Concept
(	O
ORM	O
)	O
or	O
other	O
data	O
persistence	O
solutions	O
such	O
as	O
Hibernate	B-Library
,	O
iBATIS	B-Library
or	O
TopLink	B-Library
Empire-db	B-Application
does	O
not	O
use	O
XML	O
files	O
or	O
Java	B-Language
annotations	O
to	O
provide	O
a	O
mapping	O
of	O
plain	O
(	O
old	O
)	O
Java	B-Language
object	O
(	O
POJO	B-General_Concept
's	O
)	O
to	O
database	O
tables	O
,	O
views	O
and	O
columns	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Instead	O
Empire-db	B-Application
uses	O
a	O
Java	B-Language
object	O
model	O
to	O
describe	O
the	O
underlying	O
data	O
model	O
and	O
an	O
API	O
that	O
works	O
almost	O
solely	O
with	O
object	O
references	O
rather	O
than	O
string	B-Language
literals	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Empire-db	B-Application
'	O
s	O
aim	O
is	O
to	O
provide	O
better	O
software	O
quality	O
and	O
improved	O
maintainability	O
through	O
increased	O
compile-time	O
safety	O
and	O
reduced	O
redundancy	O
of	O
metadata	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
applications	O
may	O
benefit	O
from	O
better	O
performance	O
due	O
to	O
full	O
control	O
over	O
SQL	B-Language
statements	O
and	O
their	O
execution	O
by	O
the	O
developer	O
compared	O
to	O
most	O
OR-mapping	O
solutions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Empire-db	B-Application
'	O
s	O
key	O
strength	O
is	O
its	O
API	O
for	O
dynamic	O
SQL	B-Language
generation	O
for	O
arbitrary	O
select	O
,	O
update	O
,	O
insert	O
or	O
delete	O
statements	O
,	O
purely	O
by	O
using	O
Java	B-Language
methods	O
which	O
reference	O
the	O
model	O
objects	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
provides	O
type-safety	O
and	O
almost	O
entirely	O
eliminates	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
string	B-Language
literals	I-Language
for	O
names	O
or	O
expressions	O
in	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
model	O
definition	O
through	O
a	O
Java	B-Language
object	O
model	O
omits	O
the	O
need	O
to	O
learn	O
XML	O
schemas	O
or	O
annotations	O
and	O
easily	O
allows	O
user	O
interceptions	O
and	O
extensions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Type-safe	O
API	O
for	O
dynamic	O
SQL	B-Language
command	O
generation	O
allows	O
dynamic	O
building	O
of	O
SQL	B-Language
statements	O
using	O
API	O
methods	O
and	O
object	O
references	O
only	O
instead	O
of	O
string	B-Language
literals	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Reduced	O
amount	O
of	O
Java	B-Language
code	I-Language
and	O
powerful	O
interception	O
of	O
field	O
and	O
metadata	O
access	O
through	O
dynamic	O
beans	O
as	O
an	O
alternative	O
to	O
POJOs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Build	O
queries	O
to	O
provide	O
the	O
data	O
exactly	O
as	O
needed	O
,	O
and	O
obtain	O
the	O
result	O
for	O
example	O
as	O
a	O
list	O
of	O
any	O
type	O
of	O
POJO	B-General_Concept
with	O
matching	O
property	O
setters	O
or	O
constructor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
corresponding	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
syntax	O
SQL	B-Language
statement	O
is	O
assumed	O
to	O
be	O
as	O
follows	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
SQL	B-Language
statement	O
can	O
be	O
created	O
using	O
Empire-db	B-Application
'	O
s	O
command	O
API	O
using	O
object	O
model	O
references	O
like	O
this	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
execute	O
the	O
query	O
and	O
retrieve	O
a	O
list	O
of	O
POJO	B-General_Concept
's	O
holding	O
the	O
query	O
result	O
the	O
following	O
code	O
may	O
be	O
used	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Empire-db	B-Application
also	O
supports	O
field	O
access	O
through	O
object	O
references	O
or	O
obtaining	O
query	O
results	O
as	O
XML	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Empire-db	B-Application
was	O
originally	O
developed	O
at	O
ESTEAM	O
Software	O
a	O
German	O
software	O
development	O
company	O
which	O
used	O
Empire-db	B-Application
to	O
develop	O
various	O
applications	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
different	O
branches	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
January	O
2008	O
Empire-db	B-Application
was	O
made	O
officially	O
open	O
source	O
and	O
first	O
published	O
though	O
SourceForge.net	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
June	O
2008	O
a	O
proposal	O
was	O
submitted	O
to	O
the	O
Apache	O
Software	O
Foundation	O
for	O
Empire-db	B-Application
to	O
become	O
an	O
Apache	O
Incubator	O
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
July	O
2008	O
Empire-db	B-Application
got	O
accepted	O
for	O
incubation	O
and	O
all	O
rights	O
over	O
the	O
Software	O
were	O
transferred	O
to	O
the	O
Apache	O
Foundation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
October	O
2008	O
Empire-db	B-Application
2.0.4	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
official	O
Apache	O
incubator	O
release	O
with	O
all	O
package	O
names	O
changed	O
to	O
begin	O
with	O
org.apache.empire	O
.	O
</s>
