With the introduction of CouchDB to the world, the world suddenly seemed to be alive with a whole slew of "alternative" approaches to data persistence, collectively called "NoSQL" and offering a "slightly different" to "radically different" view of data storage and retrieval. It’s left a few developers scratching their heads, trying to figure out when to use a NoSQL database instead of a regular database, much less which NoSQL database to use. In this session, we’ll examine the NoSQL ecosystem, look at the major players, how they compare and contrast, and what sort of architectural implications they have for software systems in general.

You will learn:

• What "NoSQL" really means
• Why NoSQL developed (and arguably thrived) when we have perfectly good RDBMSes sitting around
• When and why to use a NoSQL, and why "NoSQL" is actually a pretty terrible term