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I believe that simplifying querying is a non-goal for NoSQL, in fact most NoSQL databases actually push more of the burden of querying onto you. CouchDB is arg

I believe that simplifying querying is a non-goal for NoSQL, in fact most NoSQL databases actually push more of the burden of querying onto you. CouchDB is arguably a bit better here with its concept of views. SQL is incredibly powerful for expressing very complex queries succinctly, and it's pretty difficult to beat. CRUD queries are tedious in SQL or NoSQL, and an ORM or similar abstraction layer definitely helps productivity when programming those bread-and-butter operations.

olalonde 17y ago
Thanks, that's exactly the answer I was looking for. For some reason, I was under the impression that simplifying queries was actually a design goal of NoSQL whereas it really is about scalability and performance... right?
- justinsb 17y ago
  Yes - that's my understanding of the goal of NoSQL. As for whether they've achieved it, that's a more complex question :-)
- cperciva 17y ago
  NoSQL simplifies queries to the extent that it makes complex queries impossible and thereby forces people to design their data structures in such a way as to allow them to do everything they need using only simple queries. :-)
  - justinsb 17y ago
    That's a great way to look at it. The problem here comes when you want to add a new feature, and you find that your design doesn't allow for the new queries needed. The relational model and data normalization are reasonable at stopping you painting yourself into a corner, and SQL's bulk data manipulation operations can get you out of trouble. With NoSQL, you're on your own, which is great for those that are infallible and omniscient. Ironically enough, I think that means that only Larry Ellison should be using NoSQL, to twist the well known joke.
  - richcollins 17y ago
    How are complex queries impossible? You could easy write a declarative language for querying graphs.
    - wlievens 17y ago
      Sure, but the performance would be horrible. That's his point. You can't do some of the things rdbms's do.
    - kunley 17y ago
      I guess he meant: complex queries are impossible at the server side, so you have to run it in the client.

olalonde 17y ago

Thanks, that's exactly the answer I was looking for. For some reason, I was under the impression that simplifying queries was actually a design goal of NoSQL whereas it really is about scalability and performance... right?

justinsb 17y ago
Yes - that's my understanding of the goal of NoSQL. As for whether they've achieved it, that's a more complex question :-)
cperciva 17y ago
NoSQL simplifies queries to the extent that it makes complex queries impossible and thereby forces people to design their data structures in such a way as to allow them to do everything they need using only simple queries. :-)
- justinsb 17y ago
  That's a great way to look at it. The problem here comes when you want to add a new feature, and you find that your design doesn't allow for the new queries needed. The relational model and data normalization are reasonable at stopping you painting yourself into a corner, and SQL's bulk data manipulation operations can get you out of trouble. With NoSQL, you're on your own, which is great for those that are infallible and omniscient. Ironically enough, I think that means that only Larry Ellison should be using NoSQL, to twist the well known joke.
- richcollins 17y ago
  How are complex queries impossible? You could easy write a declarative language for querying graphs.
  - wlievens 17y ago
    Sure, but the performance would be horrible. That's his point. You can't do some of the things rdbms's do.
  - kunley 17y ago
    I guess he meant: complex queries are impossible at the server side, so you have to run it in the client.