Repository Pattern vs DAL

Question

Are they the same thing? Just finished to watch Rob Connery\'s Storefront tutorial and they seem to be similar techinques. I mean, when I implement a DAL object I have the G

Answer 1

My personal opinion is that it is all about mapping, see: http://www.martinfowler.com/eaaCatalog/repository.html. So the output/input from the repository are domain objects, which on the DAL could be anything. For me that is an important addition/restriction, as you can add a repository implementation for a database/service/whatever with a different layout, and you have a clear place to concentrate on doing the mapping. If you were not to use that restriction and have the mapping elsewhere, then having different ways to represent data can impact the code in places it shouldn't be changing.