SQL or NoSQL Databases

Learn the difference between SQL and NoSQL databases and when to use them.

SQL databases

SQL databases have been around since the 70s. It was originally developed by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce. After IBM released a detailed description of the syntax, many other vendors started working on their databases, creating many variations between them. By the mid-80s, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) started working on the standardization of SQL. This standardization can be divided into four major releases:

  • The first version contained the basics of SQL and was released by the end of the 80s.
  • The foundation added many of the keywords we’re familiar with today and was released in 1992. *The development of modern SQL began in 1999.
  • Modern SQL was released in 2003 and its last version was released in 2019.

Today, with these standards, we have many databases to choose from, like Postgres, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and MariaDB. Data stored in these databases is structured and stored in tables with fixed rows and columns.

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