Chapter 14
Common Features of Document Databases
In This Chapter
Expanding tree structures
Emulating key-value stores
Creating partial updates
When talking about document databases, the word document refers to a hierarchical structure of data that can contain substructures. This is a more general term than being, for example, like Microsoft Word documents or web pages, although they are certainly two types of documents that can be managed in a document-oriented NoSQL database.
Documents can consist of only binary data or plain text. They can be semi-structured when self-describing data formats like JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) or Extensible Markup Language (XML) are used. They can even be well-structured documents and always conform to a particular data model, such as an XML Schema Definition (XSD).
Document NoSQL databases are flexible and schema agnostic, which means you can load any type of document without the database needing to know the document’s structure up front.
Document databases have many uses and share common features, which I explain in the chapter. As you read this chapter, you may be surprised to find out that a document NoSQL database will meet your needs over ...
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