Can SQL and NoSQL coexist?

Relational databases and SQL were invented in the 1970s and continue to be dominant in the data world today, thanks to their various strengths such as relational calculus, consistent data, and logical data representation. However, the real success of relational databases can be attributed to two practical considerations: momentum and the power of the SQL query language.

“NoSQL” technology initially seemed to challenge these strengths, but it has gained momentum and is now providing the familiarity and power of SQL in its own unique way.

The Power of SQL

SQL, a declarative language for working with data, has revolutionized how we interact with databases. Without SQL, working with data would require specifying each step imperatively, resulting in verbose instructions for matching, grouping, projecting, and sorting data. In contrast, SQL queries allow us to simply specify what data we want, leaving the how-to details to the database. This leads to an easier-to-read and write language, standardized across relational databases, which contributes to their dominance.

The Limits of Relational Databases

Despite their success, relational databases have limitations, particularly when dealing with the scale of the internet. To handle more significant workloads, traditional…