PetaPoco

Maybe also check PetaPoco. But at this point you're getting closer and closer to code-first EF Core anyway. :) https://github.com/CollaboratingPlatypus/PetaPoco

There is a middle ground. Everyone should know sql, but choose an ORM (micro-ORM) that doesn't have any abstractions, and gets data in and out. There are many solutions that offer you this without needing to write any SQL. https://github.com/CollaboratingPlatypus/PetaPoco https://github.com/ServiceStack/ServiceStack.OrmLite Micro ORMs is where it's at. You're asking for trouble if you choose something that does WAY more than it should, like Entity Framework.

Just use a Micro ORM from the get-go. It's the perfect type-safe abstraction on top of raw SQL. https://github.com/ServiceStack/ServiceStack.OrmLite https://github.com/CollaboratingPlatypus/PetaPoco Any errors you get are likely a result of the underlying database/provider (foreign key constraints, etc). You should never write raw SQL (if possible). You don't need an ORM to achieve that.

I’ve used Clojure’s hugsql[0] and C#’s dapper and petapoco[1]. I rather liked the result. You don’t generally build dynamic strings (though sometimes you do). You generally write parameterized SQL in a fairly straightforward way with these. Honestly, SQL + Clojure is a great combo. Datalog + Clojure is even nicer. [0] https://github.com/layerware/hugsql [1] https://github.com/CollaboratingPlatypus/PetaPoco