NoSQL for Mere Mortals®

6. Introduction to Document Databases

“I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.”

—EVERETT DIRKSENFORMER U.S. SENATOR

Topics Covered In This Chapter

What Is a Document?

Avoid Explicit Schema Definitions

Basic Operations on Document Databases

Developers often turn to document databases when they need the flexibility of NoSQL databases but need to manage more complex data structures than those readily supported by key-value databases. Like key-value databases, and unlike relational databases, document databases do not require you to define a common structure for all records in the data store. Document databases, however, do have some similar features to relational databases. For example, it ...