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“MongoDB wasn’t designed in a lab. We built MongoDB
from our own experiences building large-scale, high-
availability, robust systems. We didn’t start from scratch,
we really tried to figure out what was broken, and
tackle that. So the way I think about MongoDB is that
if you take MySQL, and change the data model from
relational to document-based, you get a lot of great
features: embedded docs for speed, manageability, agile
development with dynamic schemas, easier horizontal
scalability because joins aren’t as important. There are
a lot of things that work great in relational databases:
indexes, dynamic queries and updates to name a few, and
we haven’t changed much there. For example, the way
you design your indexes in MongoDB should be exactly
the way you do it in MySQL or Oracle, you just have the
option of indexing an embedded field.”
— Eliot Horowitz, CTO and Co-founder
MongoDB is designed for how we build and run
applications with modern development techniques,
programming models, and computing resources.
HOW WE BUILD APPLICATIONS:
• New and Complex Data Types. Rich data
structures with dynamic attributes, mixed
structure, text, media, arrays and other complex
types are common in today’s applications.
• Flexibility. Applications have evolving data
models, because certain attributes are initially
unknown, and because applications evolve
over time to accommodate new features and
requirements.
• Modern Programming Languages. Object-
oriented programming languages interact with
data in structures that are dramatically dierent
from the way data is stored in a relational
database.
• Faster Development. Software engineering
teams now embrace short, iterative development
cycles. In these projects defining the data model
and application functionality is a continuous
process rather than a single event that happens
at the beginning of the project.
Introduction
