Comparison of performance between object relational mapping and pure relational design in database development

Object relational mapping is a useful technique when creating applications which require frequent database access. If used efficiently object relational mapping could save a lot of development time and effort. The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance between object and pure relational mapping in database development. It is also compared with pure relational mapping in different phases by using sample applications developed in both the techniques. The approach is to design a generic system, determine its requirements and then develop two different applications as a subset of the main system.;The applications will have the same requirements; the difference in the applications will be the database techniques used to develop the applications which are pure and object relational mapping respectively. The design and the implementation for both the system are compared for efficiency and other useful factors. The significant differences between two applications exist in the design and the implementation phase so they are discussed in detail. After the applications are developed the other significant factors to be seen are number of lines of code and the amount of development needed to develop these applications. The development effort is determined by taking into account various effort multipliers. The effort multipliers are a part of constructive cost model (COCOMO) introduced by B. W. Boehm. The effort adjustment factor calculated as a result of the above factors is then used to calculate the total approximate cost and programmer time needed to complete each application. This would give a significant insight on the efficiency of each application.