The Importance of Proper Database Use

There are advantages and disadvantages for every type of datastore. Most developers and coders are generally taught how to code and use databases with SQL as a basis, although more modern-day devs and coders may have learned NoSQL as a basis. When you use an SDK for a product that makes it look and act like something you are familiar with, it’s important to realize that you aren’t actually using that system in its native form. Something is wrapped around it to simplify it into a language in the context you are used to.

Many developers start off thinking that everything should be in one particular database, the one they know and understand. Until they hit a limitation of that database. So, they research and discover something new that solves a problem or set of problems they have, and so they decide that this is the new thing to use for everything. Except whatever this new thing is, wasn’t designed to do that either.

One of the most important things for developers and coders to remember and realize is that datastores and data storage solutions all have very specific names. Their names generally indicate what they are to be used for and what they are good at. Log stores log events. Search appliances are for searching. Time series keep data in chronological order. Geospatial datastores are for data locations. Relational databases are good at relating data to other data. Object stores organize data like a pyramid with the object on top but are not efficient at relating that data to the data of other objects.

***Click here for full text***

Originally published at https://www.pwvconsultants.com on August 4, 2020.