NHibernate (or other worth recommendation ORM), real life example?

Question

I'd like to learn database applications in C# and I'm about to select some framework. I heard many recommendations of NHibernate, however I haven't decided yet.

Anyway, I'd like to know if there's any real-life example (with sources) of NHibernate in C#, to learn best practices etc.? I know all of them are probably covered in the docs, but working example helps a lot understanding the proper development pattern.

Answer 1

Check out Ayende@Rahien, there's a lot of blog entries on NHibernate there. Another good source is NHibernate Forge. To get you started this would be especially helpful: NHibernate Getting Started Guide. Finally here you can find a downloadable working example of a NHibernate project based on the Northwind database.

Answer 2

The open source project S#arp Architecture is so far the best example I'm aware of for NHibernate:

• S#arp Architecture

Even if it feels sometimes a little bit overdesigned, it follows best practices in implementing NHibernate in a multi-tier architecture.

I personally learned a lot about ORMs and good loosely coupled architecture going through the code of the project.

Another worthwhile article about NHibernate can be found on CodeProject:

• NHibernate Best Practices