i guess it’s semantics, but i agree with you actually. After all ORM = object relational mapping. However it’s certainly the most lightweight ORM i’ve used in the java and c# world. With JOOQ you are in complete control of what the SQL statements look like and when those queries happen (avoids the common N + 1 risk). _Most_ ORMs i’ve seen attempt to abstract the query from the library user.

In our project we generated pojo’s in a CI pipeline, corresponding to a new flyway migration script. The pojos were pushed to a dedicated maven library. This ensured our object mappings were always up to date. And then we wrote sql almost like the old fashioned way…but with a typesafe java DSL.