About: Anemic Domain Model

The Anemic Domain Model is a pejorative term used to describe the use of a domain model where the business logic is implemented outside the domain objects. This pattern was first described by Martin Fowler who considers the practice an anti-pattern. With this pattern, logic is typically implemented in separate classes which transform the state of the domain objects. Fowler calls such external classes transaction scripts. This pattern is a common approach in enterprise Java applications, possibly encouraged by technologies such as J2EE's Entity Beans, as well as in . NET applications following the Three-Layered Services Application architecture where such objects fall into the category of "Business Entities" (though Business Entities may also contain behavior).