Yes, but a very limited one.

I'd love to see a solution with tradeoffs made the other way:

  * syntax and semantics 99% like underlying SQL
  * support for 99% of underlying DB functionality
  * traditional areas where ORMs add value:
    * deserialization into convenient data structures
    * casting, quoting and escaping on the way in and out
    * using stored association metadata for concise joins in the query

Every single one of those bullet points is a primary design goal of Diesel (caveat: Our semantics generally map to PG, because they apply well to other backends and are the least nonsensical)