Potential Pitfalls of Over-reliance on SQLAlchemy.

When it comes to accessing databases, the go-to option for many Python
developers is SQLAlchemy, a popular SQL toolkit and Object-Relational Mapping
(ORM) system. Based on my experience
with multiple databases and data access libraries, I’ve found the potential
overuse of SQLAlchemy to be quite a common scenario. And this over-reliance
might cause more harm than good.

At first glance, SQLAlchemy appears to be a powerful tool, especially in
creating simple services with User Interfaces (UIs). However, when it comes to
backend services that require modularity, high performance, and
maintainability, it may not always be the best choice. In fact, high-level ORM
libraries, like SQLAlchemy, can often violate fundamental object-oriented (OO)
principles, leading to poorly structured code.

One of the main issues I want to highlight is that SQLAlchemy forces the data
schema to be reflected in class attributes. This direct exposure may offer some
conveniences but, in the long run, it violates the encapsulation principle of
OO programming. Believe it or not, this lack of encapsulation can cause
potential security concerns, providing loopholes for unauthorized parties to
access the underlying database schema.

A quick summary of things that can be problematic with SQLAlchemy can be
summarized as follows:

• Violating encapsulation principles of OOP
• Exposing and tying the data schema to class attributes causing tight coupling between the database schema and the application
• Creating potential security concerns
• Proving complicated to write and maintain relationships between tables due to varying types and configurations, making it more challenging to manage changes to the database schema.
• Introducing complexities in handling object states and session management, which can lead to performance issues and tight coupling with the application code.
• Affecting query performance due to the use of ORM and providing less flexibility and control to developers over the database interactions

In conclusion, while SQLAlchemy is an undeniably convenient tool for database
interactions, it’s important to take heed of potential drawbacks; especially
when building backend services that require high performance, maintainability,
and security. The overuse of SQLAlchemy may lead to violations of
object-oriented principles, tightly coupled code, security concerns, and
complexities in handling object states. It may be more prudent to consider
other options or approaches for these circumstances. As a developer,
understanding the tools at your disposal and choosing the right one for each
specific task is crucial. SQLAlchemy can be a great asset for the right tasks,
but caution is advised to avoid creating more challenges than solutions in your
project.