PHP DataObjects: Simplifying Business Logic without SQL

The goal of this tutorial is to demonstrate a system for manipulating a database without writing SQL queries. I introduce a number of concepts including the DataObject and DataAccessObject which together allow developers focus on manipulating data without needing to write, or even know SQL. This kind of system can be referred to as Object Relational Mapping (ORM) where tables and rows in a database are represented by PHP objects which may be used to perform common database operations. It is a very simple system to use in practice, and has become a common component of many popular PHP frameworks.