What is SQL and NoSQL?

 In the world that we live in today, data is exponentially increasing. You might be wondering, how so? Let’s take for example, a large enterprise that sells shoes that is at the forefront of the shoe industry. You would expect that every year they sell millions of shoes! What was their most popular shoe sold? What was their most unsuccessful shoe sold? All this data must be stored somewhere and processed somehow!

 How could a large enterprise go about storing mass amounts of data? They can use SQL or NoSQL!

SQL, The Structured!

SQL stands for structured query language. It is a programming language used to define, manipulating, query and control a database. The databases often are called, “relational databases” because they interconnected internally. At the same time, they are structured and organized. These databases are capable of hosting millions of shoes, in data record form of course! Each shoe is assigned a unique code that follows certain criteria as permitted by the database administrator.

 For example, SQL databases use a schema to hold their tables and data records. In comparison, you might have a specific room(schema) that has a shoe rack(table) to store all of your shoes (data records). Would you ever hang a nice dress shirt on your shoe rack? Of course not! In the same sense, SQL databases keep their tables very organized and contain specific records. The millions of data records of shoes would be stored within a table. These tables that are labeled for shoe records, should never contain shirt records. Your closet would be the place to store your dress shirts. In SQL, another table might be created to store data records for dress shirts. It must be structured, hence the name ‘Structured Query Language’. Data is structured in an organized manner. Because data is stored as records in tables, SQL can process this data at quick speeds through queries(commands)! If standard convention is followed, it is logical and simple for people to understand where data is being stored. It is vital for many organizations to have a way to efficiently search and organize their data.

If you are not accustomed to specifically having your shoes on a shoe rack only, do not worry! NoSQL takes a somewhat different approach.

NoSQL, The Unstructured!

NoSQL stands for non-structured query language(NoSQL). So, what’s the difference? Data is not necessarily being stored in just a schema. In other words, your shoes(records) do not have to be stored in a room(schema). If you look closely at the name of NoSQL, it will hint to you that the data in the database are not necessarily stored in a universally structured manner. 

 Data is being stored in a “free formed fashion”. There four primary ways that data can be stored within NoSQL. They can be stored as:

1. Key-Valued oriented
2. Document oriented
3. Column oriented
4. Graph based

 Without getting too technical, this basically means that data can be stored in a variety of ways. This is helpful to certain organizations who require an unstructured database. Having a structured database has its limitations concerning the flexibility of data types. You might be wondering then, are NoSQL databases slower than SQL databases? Due to the nature of NoSQL databases, they are horizontally scalable. An example of this would be like adding another machine to the pool of machines that are running a server. In similarity, think of adding people to lift a certain amount of weight. For example, having 10 average adults lifting 500 lbs. together. On the contrary, SQL is vertically scalable. In other words, you can add as much RAM and better processing units to a computer to process data faster, however it is limited to what the machine can handle. A single weightlifter might be able to lift 500 lbs. by themselves, but they will not be able to lift 1,500 lbs. by themselves as efficiently. My point in saying this is that, on a larger scale, NoSQL is much faster in processing data. Since NoSQL can process data at faster rates, many huge corporations like Facebook, Google and Amazon use NoSQL databases in specific areas. NoSQL databases may suit their specific needs as opposed to SQL databases.

Which one should I choose?

SQL and NoSQL databases generally do the same thing. They hold data within databases and process them. However, the way at which they approach storing, manipulating and controlling data is drastically different. Each organization that contemplates utilizing SQL or NoSQL databases should familiarize themselves with the databases before making a selection. It is not necessary for you to be the world's most renowned database administrator, but it does require one to be a bit savvy! There are some databases that come with a cost, but many are free and open source! Remember, these brilliant databases are made to help you!