Django ORM

Django's ORM (Object-Relational Mapper) lets you interact with your database using Python objects instead of raw SQL. You define models as Python classes, and Django maps them to database tables.

This abstraction keeps your code readable and database-agnostic. The same model code works across PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQLite, and Django's migration system tracks and applies schema changes for you.

Querying is expressive: methods like filter(), exclude() and annotate() let you compose complex queries in Python. The ORM lazily evaluates querysets, so the database is only hit when you actually need the data.

As with any ORM, understanding what SQL it generates matters — watching out for N+1 queries and using select_related() / prefetch_related() keeps performance healthy as your app grows.