I'm skeptical that giving someone that doesn't understand databases a tool to automate their use will result in a better situation long term. A determined programmer can always make a huge mess.
I will admit: I'm an ORM disliker, preferring to write all my SQL by hand. SQL is a wonderful language and it's often far easier to do things in SQL than in whatever imperative language you happen to be using. I also enjoy far better performance than most (any?) ORMs can offer, simply by using prepared statements. I have far greater control over batching, should I wish to employ it.
When things are going wrong, it's simpler in my experience to audit human-written SQL than it is to audit whatever stuff an ORM decides to emit for a given situation.
I agree with ignoring cross-database concerns, as I feel that you will be leaving the finer features of your database on the table if you stick to the basics. Here's the real counterpoint though. If you write SQL, then you can swap out your slow, single-threaded, interpreted programming language for one with a bit more punch. And you can even do it piecemeal. To me, that's a much more compelling hedge than swapping out a DBMS.
I will admit: I'm an ORM disliker, preferring to write all my SQL by hand. SQL is a wonderful language and it's often far easier to do things in SQL than in whatever imperative language you happen to be using. I also enjoy far better performance than most (any?) ORMs can offer, simply by using prepared statements. I have far greater control over batching, should I wish to employ it.
When things are going wrong, it's simpler in my experience to audit human-written SQL than it is to audit whatever stuff an ORM decides to emit for a given situation.
I agree with ignoring cross-database concerns, as I feel that you will be leaving the finer features of your database on the table if you stick to the basics. Here's the real counterpoint though. If you write SQL, then you can swap out your slow, single-threaded, interpreted programming language for one with a bit more punch. And you can even do it piecemeal. To me, that's a much more compelling hedge than swapping out a DBMS.