Databases

Abstract

Nearly all web applications have some type of backing data store. Typically this data store is a database of some sort, and is used to store everything from addresses and credit card numbers to sensor readings and prescription information. Databases provide a way of accessing large amounts of data very quickly. There are generally two types of databases—relational databases and NoSQL databases. This chapter focuses on databases, and how they are accessed from Node applications. More specifically, the MySQL relational database and the MongoDB NoSQL database are explored. Please note that this chapter does not provide instructions for installing MySQL and MongoDB. Additionally, it assumes that you are already familiar with the Structured Query Language (SQL), which is used in conjunction with relational databases.