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The terms are often thrown around interchangeably, and there's clearly considerable overlap, but just as often it seems implied that people see something strongly implied by saying that a system is an ORM that isn't implied by it being a DAL. What is that? What, if any, are the key points that differentiate these types of system?
For example, let's say I have some code that implements Database, Table, Column and Row classes, populating them by automatic analysis of an existing database, allowing simplified interaction and so on. It understands, enforces, and takes advantage of structural relationships between database entities, such as foreign keys. All the entity models can be subclassed to load table-specific functionality onto them.
To what extent is this a DAL? To what extent is it an ORM? Why?
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No, the opposite. The DAL is a layer of utilities for accessing/modifying your Data. Within those utilities, the ORM helps in performing their respective functionalities.
What is an ORM? An object-relational mapper provides an object-oriented layer between relational databases and object-oriented programming languages without having to write SQL queries. It standardizes interfaces reducing boilerplate and speeding development time.
A data access layer (DAL) in computer software is a layer of a computer program which provides simplified access to data stored in persistent storage of some kind, such as an entity-relational database. This acronym is prevalently used in Microsoft environments.
In an ORM, classes/objects in the application are mapped to database tables and operations for persistence, sometimes automagically.
In a DAL, database operations are hidden behind a code facade.
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