Tuesday, September 21, 2010

SQL or NOSQL

Over past few days, I have been reading and experimenting with MongoDB, a Non-RDBMS database, aka NOSQL database. NOSQL stands for "Not Only SQL." NOSQL databases offer an alternative to software development scenarios where traditional RDBMS might be too cumbersome to work with. MongoDB falls under what is called a "Document Oriented Database" category. Surprisingly enough, NOSQL has been around for at least a few years now and is already a favorite among the Social Network crowd: FaceBook, Twitter, etc., however, regardless of how simplified definitions on the Internet, it takes a while to completely grasp the concept. Take as much time as you can to read about them before you decide to take a plunge.
I was looking at CouchDB and MongoDB at the same time, and decided, for no particular reason, to use MongoDB for my training exercises. What better way to learn new technology than to use it in one's project (when feasible)?
My development environment comprises of the following: Ubuntu Linux Operating System, PHP setup with Zend framework and h2o template, git for source control, Eclipse IDE with PHP PDT and eGit plugin, and MongoDB and the native drivers for PHP. The idea is to train myself on PHP, Zend framework, h2o, MongoDB, and git at the same time in one big comprehensive development project.

No comments:

Post a Comment