functionality or completely new functionality. For instance, the DBvolution DAL implements the standard deviation function for several databases that do not support it. Against it Speed: any abstraction layer will reduce the overall speed more or less depending on the amount of additional code that has to be executed. The more a database layer abstracts from the native database interface and tries to emulate features not present on all database backends, the slower the overall performance. This is especially true for database abstraction layers that try to unify the query language as well like ODBC. Dependency: a database abstraction layer provides yet another functional dependency for a software system, i.e. a given database abstraction layer, like anything else, may eventually become obsolete, outmoded or unsupported. Masked operations: database abstraction layers may limit the number of available database operations to a subset of those supported by the supported database backends. In particular, database abstraction layers may not fully support database backend-specific optimizations or debugging features. These problems magnify significantly with database size, scale, and complexity. See also Object–relational mapping References