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Hibernate / MyBatis Interview questions

What is the purpose of MyBatis?

MyBatis exists to eliminate the repetitive boilerplate of manually working with JDBC — opening connections, preparing statements, binding parameters one by one, iterating a ResultSet, and mapping columns into object fields by hand — while still giving developers full, direct control over the actual SQL being executed.

This matters specifically for teams and use cases where hand-tuned SQL is a priority — complex reporting queries, database-specific optimizations, or legacy schemas that don't map cleanly onto a full ORM's object-relational assumptions — where a framework that generates SQL automatically can get in the way rather than help.

Its purpose sits deliberately between raw JDBC (too much boilerplate, no automatic mapping) and a full ORM like Hibernate (automatic SQL generation, but less direct control and more "magic" that can be harder to predict or tune); MyBatis keeps SQL visible and explicit while still automating the mechanical, error-prone parts of getting data in and out of Java objects.

What repetitive work does MyBatis eliminate compared to raw JDBC?
Where does MyBatis sit conceptually between raw JDBC and a full ORM?

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What is MyBatis? What is the purpose of MyBatis? What are the key features of MyBatis? What is the difference between MyBatis and Hibernate? What is a SqlSessionFactory in MyBatis? What is a SqlSession in MyBatis? What is a Mapper interface in MyBatis? What is the mybatis-config.xml file used for? What is a Mapper XML file? How do you write a basic SELECT statement in MyBatis? What is parameter binding in MyBatis? What is result mapping? What are the supported statement types in MyBatis? What is the difference between #{} and ${} in MyBatis? What is a resultMap? How do you configure a data source in MyBatis? What is MyBatis-Spring? How do you integrate MyBatis with Spring Boot? What is dynamic SQL in MyBatis? List the dynamic SQL elements available in MyBatis? What is the difference between MyBatis and JPA/Hibernate in terms of philosophy? Why is #{} preferred over ${} for parameter binding? How does MyBatis prevent SQL injection? What is the difference between resultType and resultMap? What is the @Param annotation used for in MyBatis? Explain how MyBatis handles one-to-many mappings? Explain how MyBatis handles many-to-one mappings? What is the difference between association and collection in resultMap? What is lazy loading in MyBatis, and how do you configure it? Explain the lifecycle of a SqlSession? What is the difference between SqlSessionFactory and SqlSessionFactoryBuilder? How does MyBatis's first-level cache work? How does MyBatis's second-level cache work? What is the difference between first-level and second-level cache? Explain how to implement a custom TypeHandler in MyBatis? What is the purpose of the if, choose, when, otherwise dynamic SQL elements? Explain the internal working of the foreach element for batch operations? How do you handle batch inserts/updates in MyBatis? What is the Mapper proxy pattern, and how does MyBatis use it internally? Explain the execution flow of a MyBatis query from mapper call to result? What is the difference between MyBatis annotations and XML mapping? How do you use MyBatis with multiple data sources? Explain the role of the Executor in MyBatis's internal architecture, including the SIMPLE, REUSE, and BATCH executor types? How does MyBatis handle transactions, and how does it integrate with Spring's transaction management? What is a plugin/interceptor in MyBatis, and how do you write one? Explain how pagination is typically implemented in MyBatis? What is the N+1 select problem, and how does it relate to MyBatis? How do you troubleshoot a MyBatis mapping exception? Explain the internal working of MyBatis's dynamic SQL parsing? Explain the execution flow of MyBatis-Spring-Boot-Starter's auto-configuration?
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