Eager loading is a concept commonly used in software development, particularly within the realm of object-relational mapping (ORM), which deals with the management of the relationship between object-oriented programming languages and relational databases. It is a strategy employed to query and load the related entities or data objects within the context of a single query. This approach contrasts with lazy loading, where related data is only fetched when it is specifically requested. Eager loading is particularly useful when the application can predict that it will need the related data for the objects being queried. By loading all the necessary data in one go, it can reduce the number of queries made to the database, thus minimizing the performance overhead associated with establishing multiple database connections. This can result in improved efficiency and faster response times for the user. However, it is important to use eager loading judiciously, as fetching too much data that is not needed can lead to unnecessary memory consumption and slower overall performance. Therefore, developers need to carefully analyze the data access patterns of their applications to determine the most appropriate loading strategy.