The NoSQL movement

The term NoSQL has come to mean any kind of database that doesn't adhere to the strict structures of a typical relational database such as Microsoft SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and so on. With a relational database, you are required to define ahead of time the exact structure of your schema. This means that you must have defined the exact number of columns, length, and datatype for every field in a table, and that each field must always match that exact set of criteria.

With a NoSQL database server such as MongoDB, records are stored as JSON-like documents. A typical document (record) in a MongoDB collection (table) might look like the following code:

$ mongo > db.contacts.find({email: 'jason@kroltech.com'}).pretty() { "email" : "jason@kroltech.com", ...

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