I would actually argue that raw SQL in Java has worked pretty poorly overall ever since it was introduced. The APIs have gotten better, and will probably contin

I would actually argue that raw SQL in Java has worked pretty poorly overall ever since it was introduced. The APIs have gotten better, and will probably continue to. But you know what has consistently provided a nice abstraction that works really well for 90% of cases (even if you start with DML, as you should)? Hibernate :) I've used plenty of homegrown frameworks, and they just never are quite what their originators crack them up to be.