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A Shelfish Starter Guide to Databases

The absolute minimum you need to know about data storage

Planted about 6 years agoLast tended almost 6 years ago

Databases 101 - How to build yourself a digital shelf

Databases are the storage shelves of the digital world. They're where we store all our masses of information.

Every database has a DBMS - a database management system. This structures how we organise and interact with all our stored data. We have 4 fundamental ways we interact with databases. We can create, read, update, and delete. Better known as CRUD.

These DBMS's come in two flavours. Relational DB's organise data in tables made of columns and rows. Columns are type and each row inside them holds a data entry. They're highly structured and have strict data types. We talk to them using SQL - structured query language.

The second DB type is non-relational, also known as NoSQL. These include graph, kay value, document, and column family types. These are more flexible systems with less strictness around data types. They're good for getting a database up and running quickly since you don't have to create a strict schema before adding the data. They're also good for deploying data across decentralised distributed networks. Of the top five most popoular DBMS services, four are relational and one is NoSQL.

A winners stage ranking the five most popular database services

References and Further Reading

SQL Fundamentals egghead course

Tyler Clark

Get Started With PostgreSQL egghead course

Brett Cassette

Basics of NoSQL Databases

freeCodeCamp

Databases 101

Thomas LaRock

SQL vs NoSQL: The Differences

SitePoint

What is NoSQL?

MongoDB

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