MIS2502 – NoSQL
NoSQL (commonly known as Not only SQL) is an open source database management system that is best suited for distributed data stores. Unlike MySQL and other traditional relational database management systems (RDBMS), NoSQL does not use structured query language (SQL.) NoSQL is used to handle a large amount of data which could be unstructured and unpredictable. For instance, Facebook (or any other social network) must collect and store a large amount of data about each user every day (personal information, location, photos/videos, access logs, etc.) NoSQL is important because it allows companies, like Facebook, to not only collect and store this large amount of data, but to analyze it in real time.
In MIS2502 we used MySQL to retrieve, input, and analyze data. In MySQL if you tried to retrieve (query) a large amount of data, the system would slow trying to gather and display all of the information. NoSQL is designed for large data retrieval and would be able to handle the data easily and quickly. NoSQL databases do not have a fixed schema like MySQL. This is to allow the database to undergo changes in real time without interruptions.
inagist is an analytics web app for Twitter. inagist collects popular tweets about different subjects from around the world and then looks for trending topics in specific locations. The amount of data (number of tweets) that inagist collects every day is a very large amount of data. They use NoSQL as a way to store and then query the tweets. The data must be constantly analyzed and processed to determine the trending topics in specific areas and then displayed on their website. Since they are constantly collecting new data and updating the trending topics, they need to use a database system that will allow for large amounts of data and fast retrieval. That is why they use NoSQL, because of the ability to analyze the tweets in real time and to store all of the data.
Works Cited
Bisson, Simon. “SQL, NoSQL? What’s the Difference These Days?” ZDNet. N.p., 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.
Finley, Klint. “How 3 Companies Are Using NoSQL Database Riak.” ReadWrite. N.p., 09 Feb. 2011. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.
“NoSQL Introduction.” W3resource. N.p., 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.
“Why NoSQL?” Couchbase. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.