Oren Eini

aka Ayende Rahien

Oren Eini

CEO of RavenDB

a NoSQL Open Source Document Database

Get in touch with me:

oren@ravendb.net

+972 52-548-6969

Posts: 7,582

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RavenDB Workshops - Deep dive into practical use of Document Data Modeling

Jan 15 2009

There is no database

time to read 1 min | 76 words

I just noticed that for the last few months I have been consistently denying the existence of a database. I use the term persistent storage when asked, and when asked I usually say: “There is no database”.

It has gotten to the point that this is how I draw the DB on most whiteboard sessions:

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Comments

14 Jan 2009
23:13 PM

Andy Knight

"Instead only try to realize the truth: There is no spoon" - lol

15 Jan 2009
03:08 AM

Anon

All databases are [probably] persistent storage. All persistent storage is not database. Using the term database instantly recognizes the fact[?] that all databases use some form of SQL; where as persistent storage has no such recognition.

15 Jan 2009
07:39 AM

Petar Repac

Oren, are you saying that there is no "the most expensive part of an enterprise application" ?

The part that holds The Data. It seems like like ignorance.

15 Jan 2009
10:45 AM

Carl

database

–noun

a comprehensive collection of related data organized for convenient access, generally in a computer.

If you store data in it then it is a database.

I would say that there is a database but there is no Database or DBMS... possibly...

15 Jan 2009
10:46 AM

Tobin Harris

I'm probably a few years behind you there!

But I find that I open SQL Studio about once every two weeks, rather than every time I open Visual Studio. I still know there's a persistent storage medium there, but most of the time I no longer really care if it's a RDBMS, an XML file store, a service layer, or whatever.

15 Jan 2009
14:38 PM

Damian Hickey

I'd probably draw it like this:

img258.imageshack.us/img258/1976/nodbiy3.png

I jest! :)

15 Jan 2009
16:24 PM

Chris Canal

I gave an NHibernate talk at my local user group on Tuesday and this is something I really tried to get across, there where a few confused looks and few smirks, but it went over better than I thought :)

16 Jan 2009
15:13 PM

Scott White

ORM Euphoria? I'd like to think I'm about there too. I tend to talk more in terms of objects, interaction and process flows.

17 Jan 2009
11:42 AM

Petar Repac

There is no silver bullet and I think ORM is not also.

It could cover 99% of use cases but what you do with 1% left ? Call DBA to help ? Or quit ignoring that there is an RDBMS and solve the problem there if it is the best/cheapest way to go ?

21 Jan 2009
11:29 AM

Vincent

Does that also mean not stored procs and no triggers?

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