== Ruby Data Objects If you're building something in Ruby that needs access to a database, you may opt to use an ORM like ActiveRecord, DataMapper or Sequel. But if your needs don't fit well with an ORM—maybe you're even writing an ORM—then you'll need some other way of talking to your database. RDO provides a common interface to a number of RDBMS backends, using a clean Ruby syntax, while supporting all the functionality you'd expect from a robust database connection library: * Consistent API to connect to various DBMS's * Type casting to Ruby types * Time zone handling (via the DBMS, not via some crazy time logic in Ruby) * Native bind values parameterization of queries, where supported by the DBMS * Retrieve query info from executed commands (e.g. affected rows) * Access RETURNING values just like any read query * Native prepared statements where supported, emulated where not * Results given using simple core Ruby data types == RDBMS Support Support for each RDBMS is provided in separate gems, so as to minimize the installation requirements and to facilitate the maintenace of each driver. Many gems are maintained by separate users who work more closely with those RDBMS's. Due to the nature of this gem, most of the nitty-gritty code is actually written in C. See the official README for full details.