I was thinking there would be a default table where everything gets stored by default. A programmer then tells the ORMapping about specific classes and how to store them.
I wouldn't think it would be practical to use unless the ORMapping managed the tables by examining the class signature as metadata. ADO.NET has this in reverse, the tools can define classes that mirror a SQL recordset. Similarly, references to other objects would need to be supported with joins. BTW, I was going to mention this article http://www.vbpj.com/upload/free/features/vbpj/2001/07jul01/sqlpro0107/re in0107/rein0107p.asp As a 'rah-rah zope' example of RDBMS complexity Zope/ZODB spares us, but now it brings up something the ORMapping layer would have to do (perhaps with more savvy) to support mixed folder hierarchy among class instances.