3 ms·

we're working on the 'undiscovered' part. :-)

don_draper 14y ago
How about a getting started page that is as easy as this one: http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-debian-or-ubuntu-linux/ http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-d...
- pharkmillups 14y ago
  Yes. Docs are high on our list of things to revamp. We should be refacing and improving in all areas starting right about now...
  - pooriaazimi 14y ago
    Look at this page (linked from Basho home page, titled "Learn More"): http://basho.com/products/riak-overview/ http://basho.com/products/riak-overview/ There's nothing on that page except useless talk and a chart. There are hundreds of other NOSQL highly distributed, available, blah blah blah databases. Why should I choose Riak? Why not MongoDB? CouchDB? And I challenge you to find a link on that page that tells you anything more. All other links are just as bad: http://basho.com/technology/why-use-riak/ http://basho.com/technology/why-use-riak/ and http://basho.com/technology/architecture/ http://basho.com/technology/architecture/ and http://basho.com/technology/technology-stack/ http://basho.com/technology/technology-stack/ and http://basho.com/technology/technology-stack/ http://basho.com/technology/technology-stack/ - The wiki is also not good at all: http://wiki.basho.com/Riak.html http://wiki.basho.com/Riak.html They are just spec sheets and vague sentences. For God's sake, show me a sample project. A to-do app so I can get my head around all these new concepts... It's been 6th or 7th time in the past year that I've stumbled upon your site and was mildly interested to know more about Riak, but the docs are so horrible that I know "nothing" about it. I gave a (introductory) presentation (to an undergraduate class) about MongoDB after 10 hours of reading their site and "The Little MongoDB Book"[1] and hacking around with it (that's how good and thorough they explained their system). I'm not sure how much it would take for me to understand enough of Riak to explain it to someone. That guy also wrote a decent "Little Book" on Redis, which I also found extremely compelling. Please, if you like your product and want to see more people use it, write a better documentation. Or hire Karl Seguin to write one for you! [1]: http://openmymind.net/2011/3/28/The-Little-MongoDB-Book/ http://openmymind.net/2011/3/28/The-Little-MongoDB-Book/ [2]: http://openmymind.net/2012/1/23/The-Little-Redis-Book/ http://openmymind.net/2012/1/23/The-Little-Redis-Book/
    - jpflores 14y ago
      here are a couple docs you might find helpful. http://riakhandbook.com http://riakhandbook.com http://pragprog.com/book/rwdata/seven-databases-in-seven-weeks http://pragprog.com/book/rwdata/seven-databases-in-seven-wee... ...this has a section on Riak as well.
      - pooriaazimi 14y ago
        Thanks - The Riak Handbook seems very nice. But they don't count, you have to buy them :) These kind of docs should be free (to entice prospective users on getting started with your product as fast as possible).
        jpflores 14y ago
        fair enough....but both the above referenced docs were written by 3rd parties so they are not Basho's to give away. But your point is well-taken and a doc revamp is underway.
    - tptacek 14y ago
      Unlike Mongo, which is a pin compatible architectural replacement for MySQL in most web app designs, you would probably never build a "to-do app" in Riak. Mongo is thus probably inherently easier to demo. Moreover, if you just show someone the API for Riak and what it's capable of doing, you're not really giving them an appreciation of what Riak is about. To an application developer, Mongo's interface is probably much more congenial and full-featured. I think there's a certain extent to which you either have the problem Riak solves and know why you'd want it, or you don't and no tutorial is going to change that. But that might just be an opportunity for a really creative tutorial.
      - Ixiaus 14y ago
        This is a good comment. I first got excited about Riak because I'm an Erlang programmer (hence why I knew about it) and tried to build a side-project web app using it; only to realize Riak is poorly suited for the type of task where you need anything remotely resembling the relational model (and all of the tools that come with it). It hasn't been until two years later that I've actually found a need for it - it handles very specific pieces of our data model that grow rapidly and doesn't need to be queried or indexed in any complex manner. We still use a relational database for user records, profile records, transaction records, etc...
- tsantero 14y ago
  you mean like this? http://wiki.basho.com/Installation.html http://wiki.basho.com/Installation.html
  - don_draper 14y ago
    That's a link to page that shows you how to start the server and ping it. There's more to getting started than that. In contrast, Mongos docs are superb IMO.

How about a getting started page that is as easy as this one: http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-debian-or-ubuntu-linux/ http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-d...

pharkmillups 14y ago
Yes. Docs are high on our list of things to revamp. We should be refacing and improving in all areas starting right about now...
- pooriaazimi 14y ago
  Look at this page (linked from Basho home page, titled "Learn More"): http://basho.com/products/riak-overview/ http://basho.com/products/riak-overview/ There's nothing on that page except useless talk and a chart. There are hundreds of other NOSQL highly distributed, available, blah blah blah databases. Why should I choose Riak? Why not MongoDB? CouchDB? And I challenge you to find a link on that page that tells you anything more. All other links are just as bad: http://basho.com/technology/why-use-riak/ http://basho.com/technology/why-use-riak/ and http://basho.com/technology/architecture/ http://basho.com/technology/architecture/ and http://basho.com/technology/technology-stack/ http://basho.com/technology/technology-stack/ and http://basho.com/technology/technology-stack/ http://basho.com/technology/technology-stack/ - The wiki is also not good at all: http://wiki.basho.com/Riak.html http://wiki.basho.com/Riak.html They are just spec sheets and vague sentences. For God's sake, show me a sample project. A to-do app so I can get my head around all these new concepts... It's been 6th or 7th time in the past year that I've stumbled upon your site and was mildly interested to know more about Riak, but the docs are so horrible that I know "nothing" about it. I gave a (introductory) presentation (to an undergraduate class) about MongoDB after 10 hours of reading their site and "The Little MongoDB Book"[1] and hacking around with it (that's how good and thorough they explained their system). I'm not sure how much it would take for me to understand enough of Riak to explain it to someone. That guy also wrote a decent "Little Book" on Redis, which I also found extremely compelling. Please, if you like your product and want to see more people use it, write a better documentation. Or hire Karl Seguin to write one for you! [1]: http://openmymind.net/2011/3/28/The-Little-MongoDB-Book/ http://openmymind.net/2011/3/28/The-Little-MongoDB-Book/ [2]: http://openmymind.net/2012/1/23/The-Little-Redis-Book/ http://openmymind.net/2012/1/23/The-Little-Redis-Book/
  - jpflores 14y ago
    here are a couple docs you might find helpful. http://riakhandbook.com http://riakhandbook.com http://pragprog.com/book/rwdata/seven-databases-in-seven-weeks http://pragprog.com/book/rwdata/seven-databases-in-seven-wee... ...this has a section on Riak as well.
    - pooriaazimi 14y ago
      Thanks - The Riak Handbook seems very nice. But they don't count, you have to buy them :) These kind of docs should be free (to entice prospective users on getting started with your product as fast as possible).
      - jpflores 14y ago
        fair enough....but both the above referenced docs were written by 3rd parties so they are not Basho's to give away. But your point is well-taken and a doc revamp is underway.
  - tptacek 14y ago
    Unlike Mongo, which is a pin compatible architectural replacement for MySQL in most web app designs, you would probably never build a "to-do app" in Riak. Mongo is thus probably inherently easier to demo. Moreover, if you just show someone the API for Riak and what it's capable of doing, you're not really giving them an appreciation of what Riak is about. To an application developer, Mongo's interface is probably much more congenial and full-featured. I think there's a certain extent to which you either have the problem Riak solves and know why you'd want it, or you don't and no tutorial is going to change that. But that might just be an opportunity for a really creative tutorial.
    - Ixiaus 14y ago
      This is a good comment. I first got excited about Riak because I'm an Erlang programmer (hence why I knew about it) and tried to build a side-project web app using it; only to realize Riak is poorly suited for the type of task where you need anything remotely resembling the relational model (and all of the tools that come with it). It hasn't been until two years later that I've actually found a need for it - it handles very specific pieces of our data model that grow rapidly and doesn't need to be queried or indexed in any complex manner. We still use a relational database for user records, profile records, transaction records, etc...
tsantero 14y ago
you mean like this? http://wiki.basho.com/Installation.html http://wiki.basho.com/Installation.html
- don_draper 14y ago
  That's a link to page that shows you how to start the server and ping it. There's more to getting started than that. In contrast, Mongos docs are superb IMO.