Ask HN: How do I get a better understanding of NoSQL databases

6 points by lazyfunctor ↗ HN
I have a reasonable understanding of relational databases. I am not so sure about NoSQL databases. Though I have used mongodb in the past. Can someone point me to resources to get a deeper understanding? How do I go about learning the trade-offs of choosing say a document store over a key value store. Also CAP theorem and related trade-offs. When is NoSQL better suited than relational etc.

9 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 29.5 ms ] thread
The Little MongoDB Book might help. It doesn't answer all your questions but it gave me enough background (albeit MongoDB specific) to learn more. It's also a fairy short read. http://openmymind.net/mongodb.pdf
The Little Redis Book [1] might be better. Redis is easier to pick up and probably more useful as it's more complementary to existing database options.

[1] http://openmymind.net/redis.pdf

I can't recommend enough the book Seven Databases in Seven Weeks by Eric Redmond & Jim Wilson. It covers the whole range of different types of databases, with just a little bit of theory (the CAP theorem).
have a look at mongodb. It has excellent documentation, community support. www.mongodb.org/