[java] What is the difference between Unidirectional and Bidirectional JPA and Hibernate associations?

I'm not 100% sure this is the only difference, but it is the main difference. It is also recommended to have bi-directional associations by the Hibernate docs:

http://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/core/3.3/reference/en/html/best-practices.html

Specifically:

Prefer bidirectional associations: Unidirectional associations are more difficult to query. In a large application, almost all associations must be navigable in both directions in queries.

I personally have a slight problem with this blanket recommendation -- it seems to me there are cases where a child doesn't have any practical reason to know about its parent (e.g., why does an order item need to know about the order it is associated with?), but I do see value in it a reasonable portion of the time as well. And since the bi-directionality doesn't really hurt anything, I don't find it too objectionable to adhere to.

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