JDBC, Hibernate, JPA & Spring Data JPA Overview

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terms and concepts from the lecture on JDBC, Hibernate, JPA, and Spring Data JPA.

JDBC (Java Database Connectivity)

Java’s low-level API for connecting to a database and executing SQL queries.

Hibernate

An Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) tool that implements the JPA specification and communicates with the database via JDBC.

JPA (Java Persistence API)

A specification that defines how Java objects map to database tables; it contains no implementation code itself.

Spring Data JPA

A Spring module that abstracts JPA/Hibernate, allowing data access through interfaces like JpaRepository without writing SQL.

ORM (Object-Relational Mapping)

The process of converting Java objects to relational database tables and back again.

@Entity

A JPA/Hibernate annotation that marks a class as a persistent database entity.

Hibernate’s JDBC Usage

Hibernate relies on JDBC internally to send SQL commands to the database.

JPA vs. Hibernate

JPA is only a specification, while Hibernate is a concrete implementation of that specification.

Spring Data JPA Call Chain

Application code → Spring Data JPA → JPA → Hibernate → JDBC → SQL database.

Importance of Learning JDBC

Understanding JDBC helps you debug, optimize, and comprehend what higher-level frameworks are doing under the hood.