Chapter 2
Hello NoSQL: Getting Initial Hands-on Experience
WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?
- Tasting NoSQL technology
- Exploring MongoDB and Apache Cassandra basics
- Accessing MongoDB and Apache Cassandra from some of the popular high-level programming languages
This chapter is a variation of the quintessential programming tutorial first step: Hello World! It introduces the initial examples. Although elementary, these examples go beyond simply printing a hello message on the console and give you a first hands-on flavor of the topic. The topic in this case is NoSQL, which is an abstraction for a class of data stores. NoSQL is a concept, a classification, and a new-generation data storage viewpoint. It includes a class of products and a set of alternative non-relational data store choices. You are already familiar with some of the essential concepts and pros and cons of NoSQL from Chapter 1. This is where you start seeing it in action.
The examples in this chapter use MongoDB and Cassandra so you may want to install and set up those products to follow along. Refer to Appendix A if you need help installing these products in your development environment.
WHY ONLY MONGODB AND APACHE CASSANDRA?
The choice of MongoDB and Cassandra to illustrate NoSQL examples is quite arbitrary. This chapter intends to provide a first flavor of the deep and wide NoSQL domain. There are numerous NoSQL products and many offer compelling features and advantages. Choosing a couple of products to start with NoSQL ...
