Prompt Title: About Android realm database basics

Realm is not a traditional ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) database. Instead, it can be described as a mobile database that is an object database, which means it stores data in a way that is more closely aligned with how data is represented in application code. This is different from traditional ORM tools, which map application objects to relational database tables.

Characteristics of Realm as an Object Database:

• Object-centric storage: Realm stores data as objects, similar to the data models in your application code, without requiring a separate mapping layer to convert data between tables and objects. This approach is fundamentally different from ORM tools, which involve mapping objects to SQL tables.
• Direct access: The data objects in Realm are live objects, meaning that they are always up-to-date with the latest data in the database. When you modify the data in an object, the changes are automatically saved to the database without needing explicit 'save' or 'update' commands.

Data Handling and Format:

• Data Storage: Realm does not use JSON natively for storage. It has its own binary data format that is optimized for speed and size, which helps in maintaining high performance and efficient storage management.
• Importing and Exporting Data: While Realm's internal storage format is not JSON, it does support importing and exporting data in JSON format. This makes it easy to work with data from web services or other external sources that use JSON.

Use Cases:

• Because of its object-oriented nature and real-time capabilities, Realm is particularly well-suited for applications that require a seamless, responsive user experience and handle complex data models natively.
• It's also beneficial for applications that need to operate offline or synchronize with a server-side database when online.

Summary:

Realm is distinct from typical ORMs in that it integrates more deeply with the language and platform, offering a more natural way to work with data in applications. It avoids the impedance mismatch often associated with ORMs by allowing developers to work with their native objects directly without the overhead of translating between objects and database schemas.