Big Data Glossary

Chapter 2. NoSQL Databases

A few years ago, web programmers started to use the memcached system to temporarily store data in RAM, so frequently used values could be retrieved very quickly, rather than relying on a slower path accessing the full database from disk. This coding pattern required all of the data accesses to be written using only key/value primitives, initially in addition to the traditional SQL queries on the main database. As developers got more comfortable with the approach, they started to experiment with databases that used a key/value interface for the persistent storage as well as the cache, since they already had to express most of their queries in that form anyway. This is a rare example of the removal of an abstraction layer, since the key/value interface is less expressive and lower-level than a query language like SQL. These systems do require more work from an application developer, but they also offer a lot more flexibility and control over the work the database is performing. The cut-down interface also makes it easier for database developers to create new and experimental systems to try out new solutions to tough requirements like very large-scale, widely distributed data sets or high throughput applications.

This widespread demand for solutions, and the comparative ease of developing new systems, has led to a flowering of new databases. The main thing they have in common is that none of them support the traditional SQL interface, which has led to the ...