JDBC Statement vs Prepared Statement: Difference and Comparison

JDBC refers to Java Database Connectivity. It is an application programming interface offered by the Java programming language to establish a connection between any query and the database.

Different statements are interfaces that interact differently with the database by different methods and properties. Each has a different purpose.

Key Takeaways

1. JDBC Statements are used for executing static SQL queries and can be susceptible to SQL injection attacks.
2. Prepared Statements are precompiled SQL statements that offer increased security, performance, and flexibility over JDBC Statements.
3. Developers should use Prepared Statements for dynamic SQL queries and when dealing with user-supplied data to mitigate risks and optimize performance.

JDBC Statement vs Prepared Statement

JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) is a Java API for connecting and interacting with databases. JDBC provides two primary classes for executing SQL statements: Statement and Prepared Statement. Prepared Statement is a sub-interface of Statement that allows you to run SQL statements with parameters. You create a Prepared Statement object from a connection.

JDBC statements are interfaces that request static data from the database through SQL statements at runtime. This interface cannot accept parameters. It is obtained from a JDBC connection.

It can execute either a database query or a database update through SQL commands. A Java statement instance has to be created to use it.

Prepared Statements are interfaces that are compiled several times and can be used again and again. This interface can accept parameterized SQL queries. They are executed through a binary protocol.

It enables more accessible functionality with batch updates and has excellent reusability since any parameterized query can be used again with the same or changed parameters.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	JDBC Statement	Prepared Statement
Parameters	JDBC Statement cannot accept parameters of any kind at runtime.	A Prepared Statement can retrieve or feed an image or a file into a database.
Speed	This is slow and not optimized.	This is very fast and highly optimized.
Images and Files	A JDBC statement cannot be used to retrieve or feed an image or a file into a database.	It is highly modular and efficient and makes code more understandable.
Comprehensibility	It makes the source code difficult to understand and is less modular.	It is used for executing precompiled SQL statements in JDBC.
Format	It is used for executing static SQL statements in JDBC.	It is used for executing precompiled SQL statements in JDBC.

What is JDBC Statement?

JDBC is a part of the Java Standard Edition application programming interface offered by Java to connect with databases through statements with different properties.

It can be used to store, update and retrieve data from a database in the form of text, images, or files. One thing to note is that JDBC cannot be used to save or retrieve files and ideas from a database.

JDBC statements are slow and have low performance as they do not use a binary interface and use more data packets than Prepared Statements, making them less efficient and their use more difficult.

Coding using JDBC statements is tricky, and since they cannot be reused, it is also very time-consuming. It makes using concatenated SQL strings compulsory, making code less readable and less modular.

Once fed through a JDBC statement, an SQL query cannot be repeatedly executed, meaning the query will have to be rewritten even for the same function.

Also, since the JDBC statements cannot accept parameters, their use limits the scope of codes and induces low modularity.

To overcome these drawbacks, Prepared and Callable statements are used, but they have been derived from JDBC basic statements therefore, JDBC cannot be regarded as their development as an immense contribution to the application programming that exists today.

What is a Prepared Statement?

Another method of accessing the data in a database is through a Prepared Statement, an interface used to run precompiledd SQL queries with parameters.

It can be used and executed repeatedly with the same or different parameters, significantly improving its efficiency and making it high-performance. They can also store and receive files and images from a database.

Prepared Statements are also more secure than JDBC statements because they prevent SQL injection.

They are also much faster when compared to the JDBC statements as they use a non-SQL binary protocol and use a lesser number of data packets, all while executing precompiledd instructions.

They vastly improve code readability and make it easy to understand the objectives of different modules which contain editable parameters.

The use of Prepared Statements removes many of the drawbacks of the basic JDBC statements, such as low speed, low performance, and reusability.

Additionally, they are much more secure. They also add methods such as the addBatch(), getMetaData(), and getParameterizedData().

They are also more portable and vendor friendly as they support a wide array of database management systems such as SQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, SQLite, etc.

Main Differences Between JDBC Statement and Prepared Statement

1. JDBC statements are much slower and less modular than Prepared Statements because they use precompiled SQL queries.
2. JDBC statements cannot accept parameters and have to be written separately for each task, whereas Prepared Statements accept different parameters at runtime.
3. Prepared Statements make the code much easier to understand and teach than JDBC statements, so their learning curves are very different.
4. Prepared Statements can be used for writing and storing binary data, whereas JDBC statements cannot be used since they do not support binary instructions.
5. JDBC statements are used for executing normal and static queries, whereas Prepared Statements are used for executing dynamic queries.

References

1. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4302-0029-1_5
2. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=oPbGi0l0ZHEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=jdbc+statement&ots=OPSEJzDoZp&sig=E94mlf3oSk-3s87ZGcvLuNFvCCM

Last Updated : 11 June, 2023