# The Java EE 7 Tutorial

# 37 Introduction to the Java Persistence API

The Java Persistence API provides Java developers with an object/relational mapping facility for managing relational data in Java applications. Java Persistence consists of four areas:

- The Java Persistence API

- The query language

- The Java Persistence Criteria API

- Object/relational mapping metadata

The following topics are addressed here:

- Entities

- Entity Inheritance

- Managing Entities

- Querying Entities

- Database Schema Creation

- Further Information about Persistence