FOREWORD Hibernate has rapidly become one of the leading ORM technologies for enter prise developers-and deservedly so. This book provides a comprehensive overview of Hibernate.It covers how to use its type mapping capabilities and facilities for modeling associations and inheritance:how to retrieve objects efficiently using the Hibernate query lan guage;how to configure Hibernate for use in both managed and unmanaged environments:and how to use its tools.In addition.throughout the book the authors provide insight into the underlying issues of ORM and into the design choices behind Hibernate.These insights give the reader a deep understanding of the effective use of ORM as an enterprise technology. Hibernate in Action is the definitive guide to using Hibernate and to object/rela- tional mapping in enterprise computing today. LINDA DEMICHIEL Lead Architect,Enterprise JavaBeans Sun Microsystems xii FOREWORD Hibernate has rapidly become one of the leading ORM technologies for enter￾prise developers—and deservedly so. This book provides a comprehensive overview of Hibernate. It covers how to use its type mapping capabilities and facilities for modeling associations and inheritance; how to retrieve objects efficiently using the Hibernate query lan￾guage; how to configure Hibernate for use in both managed and unmanaged environments; and how to use its tools. In addition, throughout the book the authors provide insight into the underlying issues of ORM and into the design choices behind Hibernate. These insights give the reader a deep understanding of the effective use of ORM as an enterprise technology. Hibernate in Action is the definitive guide to using Hibernate and to object/rela￾tional mapping in enterprise computing today. LINDA DEMICHIEL Lead Architect, Enterprise JavaBeans Sun Microsystems Licensed to Jose Carlos Romero Figueroa <jose.romero@galicia.seresco.es>