Professional Node.js: Building Javascript Based Scalable Software

Chapter 24

Connecting to CouchDB Using Nano

WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Creating a CouchDB database
• Creating and updating a CouchDB view
• Inserting or updating a document
• Querying a view and presenting the results
• Attaching binary files to documents

In the last few years, a series of projects has tried to solve some relational database problems by providing a different approach to database management systems design. This movement has been named NoSQL. Not only does it reject a query language, it also rejects the relational model and, in most cases, simplifies that model and relaxes some of its assumptions.

NOTE For instance, in most relational databases, when making several modifications inside one transaction, it can be guaranteed that all the changes are done atomically, that is, that either all of them occur or they have no effect. In most NoSQL databases, when inserting or updating several documents, atomicity may not be guaranteed in exchange for a simpler and less problematic concurrency model.

Right in the middle of the NoSQL “revolution” stands the successful poster child and Open Source project named CouchDB. CouchDB is a database that embraces web standards; it uses JSON for object storage and JavaScript for making queries.

NOTE Installing and learning how to fully operate a CouchDB database is out of the scope of this book. If you opt to use an Internet service that offers CouchDB hosting (like IrisCouch), you won’t need to install CouchDB in your local machine.