Companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook have so much data they store every day and also retrieve data as per user request. How is all this large data maintained by such companies? It is all possible with the help of database management systems. Database Management systems are services that provide assistance and facilities to store, manage, and retrieve data.
Moreover, they are also responsible for backing up your data and recovering them in case of any failure. High availability and performance are also desired characteristics of a good database management system. In this article we’ll go through various databases you should learn in 2024.
What is a Database?
A database is an organized collection of structured information or data stored in a computer system. An application that is associated with a database is referred to as a database system. Using a database you can store, manage, and retrieve large amounts of data efficiently. There are many databases available like MySQL, Oracle, MongoDB, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, etc.
Why do we need a database?
The need for a database is mentioned below:
- Data Management – A database allows data to be stored in a structured way that helps in easy management and retrieval.
- Security – The database offers authentication and authorization and various security assistance that help maintain data security.
- Data Integrity – The database supports a mechanism that allows data integrity, consistency, and accuracy.
- Scalability – The database can be effectively scaled horizontally and vertically to meet the increasing demands of the application.
- Cost-Effective – Database systems have proved to be more cost-effective than traditional file management systems thus making it a choice for applications.
Types of Databases
- Hierarchical Database – It uses a hierarchical model which follows a tree-like structure to store data. The relationship between nodes in the hierarchical database is one-to-many.
- Network Database – It uses a network model where data is organized in a series of interconnected records. Each child can have multiple parent nodes and each parent can have multiple child nodes.
- Object-Oriented Database – In this database, data is organized into objects that are entities enclosing data and its methods.
- Relational Database – In this database, data is stored in the form of tables where different tables are related to each other using keys and indexes.
- Cloud Database – A cloud database is a database that is stored and marinated in a cloud computing environment rather than an on-premise system. With permissions, it can be accessed by multiple users over the Internet.
- Centralized Database – In a centralized database, the data is stored on a single central server fow which all users access the data over the network.
- Operational Databse – This database is used to store data which affect the day-to-day functionality of an organization. It is used to store data that is needed in real-time.
- NoSQL Database – It is used to organize unstructured data that use various data models like key-value pairs, documents etc. to store data.
Which Database You Should Learn in 2024?
Here is the curated list of the most popular databases that you should learn in 2024. Lets Discuss each of them in detail.
1. Oracle
Oracle Database is a multi-model database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation. It is written in Assembly language, C and C++. It is used for running online transaction processing, warehousing and mixed (online transaction processing and warehousing) database workloads. It used SQL for data querying. Oracle database is used by Netflix, UnitedHealth Group, JPMorgan Chase, and Intel.
Features
- Data Availability – Oracle provides a high-performance database ensuring all-time availability. It is never out of action or unavailable. Thus, operations can be performed on the database without the fear of failure.
- Data Concurrency – Oracle database resolves disputes among data and ensures data concurrency.
- Compatibility – Being one of the oldest database services, Oracle database is compatible with almost every system in the industry without much modification.
- Large Database and Space Management – Oracle provides full control of large database and space management.
2. MySQL
MySQL is an open-source relational database management system that helps users store, manage and retrieve structured data with ease. Relational database means data is organized in the form of tables with each table having relations with one another. MySQL is written in C and C++. It is used for data warehousing, e-commerce and logging applications. It is used by websites such as Facebook, Flickr, MediaWiki, Twitter and YouTube.
Features
- Ease of Learning – MySQL is one of the easiest databases where querying is done using SQL. It also has a vast plethora of documentation associated with it.
- Client-Server Architecture – MySQL is based on client-server architecture where each client machine can request data from the server which is answered by the server with an appropriate response.
- Compatible – MySQL is compatible with all platforms like Windows, Linux, UNIX and MacOS.
- Security – Database and network can be distributed across a region to ensure security. It also provides an encryption mechanism using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.
3. SQLite
SQLite is a database engine library that is used by developers for their applications. It is written in C. It was developed in 2000 by D. Richard Hipp and its most stable version is version 3.44.2 released on November 24, 2023. It is a type of embedded database. The syntax of SQLite is very similar to PostgreSQL but there is a minor difference that SQLite does not enforce type-checking by default. Adobe and Airbus use SQLite.
Features
- Serverless – SQLite databases do not interact with a server instead they interact directly with the application to store, manage and retrieve data.
- Self-contained – SQLite requires minimal support from the operating system and other external supporting libraries. Thus, it can be used in any environment.
- Zero-configuration – Since SQLite is serverless, no server process needs to be installed or configured.
- Transactional – All the operations in SQLite follow the ACID (Atomic, Consistent, Isolated, and Durable) properties.
4. PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is a free and open-source relational database management system. It is written in C. It was developed in 1996 by PostgreSQL Global Development Group and its most stable version is version 16.1 released on November 9, 2023. Its features like Inheritance and Function Loading make it quite popular. It is compatible with many other tools and applications. It is used by Netflix, Uber, Instagram, Spotify, Skype and Instacart.
Features
- Transactional – All the operations in PostgreSQL follow the ACID (Atomic, Consistent, Isolated, and Durable) properties.
- Concurrency Control – PostgreSQL provides concurrency control to avoid conflicts and maintain data integrity.
- Security – Security features like SSL encryption, username/password authentication, LDAP authentication etc. are provided by PostgreSQL.
- Data Types – PostgreSQL is compatible with Structured, Primitives, Customizations, Geometry, and Documents data types.
5. MongoDB
MongoDB is a source-available, cross-platform, document-oriented database program. It is written in C++, JavaScript and Python. It is a NoSQL database. It uses JSON-like documents with optional schema. It is faster than a relational database management system. MongoDB is used for hierarchical data storage. It is used by Toyota, Uber, Lyft, Accenture, Coinbase, Bosch, Expedia, Forbes and Urban Outfitters.
Features
- Authentication – MongoDB provides various authentication mechanisms like the Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism (SCRAM). It requires the user to provide an authentication database, username and password.
- Replication – To preserve data from any loss, data should be replicated onto multiple databases. MongoDB provides replica sets for the same.
- Sharding – Sharding is the process of splitting the database. It is an important process in MongoDB to ensure horizontal scaling.
- Document Model – MongoDB is a document-oriented database where data is stored in documents and documents are grouped into collections.
6. MariaDB
MariaDB is a free, open-source community-developed fork of MySQL relational database management system. It is written in C, C++, Pearl and Bash. MariaDB supports many languages like Node, Python, C, Java, and C++. It is used by Wikipedia, Amazon Web Services, Tumblr, Ubuntu, and RedHat.
Features
- Ease of Learning – MariaDB is easy to learn and has an easy learning curve due to the availability of rich documentation and its similarity to MySQL.
- Clustering – MariaDB offers easy integration to Galera clustering technology where multiple databases can run together. This gives high performance and availability.
- Advanced Features – Advanced features like microsecond precision, table elimination, scalar subqueries, and parallel replication are supported.
- Storage – Maria DB supports storage engines like Aria, MyRocks, and Spider for different use cases.
7. Microsoft SQL
Microsoft SQL Server is a proprietary relational database management system developed by Microsoft. It is written in C and C++. Its primary goal is to store and retrieve data as commanded by the application. It works for both on-premise and cloud environments. It is compatible with Windows and Linux but is not compatible with MacOS.
Features
- Data types – Microsoft SQL supports various types of data like structured, unstructured and spatial data.
- Big Data Clusters – This feature allows you to deploy multiple clusters of SQL Server, Spark and HDFS at once. Thus, multiple clusters can run parallelly.
- Security – Microsoft SQL has built-in support for data classification, protection and monitoring.
- UTF-8 Support – It provides support to the UTF-8 encoding system that is used in data import, export, database-level and column-level data collection.
8. Redis
Redis is an open-source in-memory storage. It is used as a distributed, in-memory key-value database, cache and message broker. Redis is written in C. It was developed in 2009 by Salvatore Sanfilippo and its most stable version is version 7.2.3 released on November 1, 2023. Its low latency read and write operations make it suitable for caching use cases. It is used by Twitter, Airbnb, Tinder, Yahoo, Adobe, Hulu, Amazon and OpenAI.
Features
- Data Structures – Redis provides a wide range of data structures including strings, lists, sets, hashes, bitmaps etc.
- Simplicity – With Redis, you can write a complex functionality easily with a few lines of code.
- Replication – Redis uses a primary replica architecture and also supports asynchronous replication.
- Availability – The primary replica architecture of Redis helps provide high availability with consistency and good performance.
9. IBM DB2
IBM DB2 provides data management products including database servers. It is written in C, C++, Assembly and Java. Initially, it was made to support relational databases but later was extended to include object-relations and non-relational structures too. It is used by JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Costco Wholesale Corporation.
Features
- Data Types – DB2 supports structured, unstructured and relational data.
- AI Functionality – DB2 uses artificial intelligence for the querying process. Machine learning algorithms, column storage and data skipping make querying simpler and provides higher performance.
- Scalability – DB2 provides various scalability options like scaling from local storage to a cloud storage or extending your existing cloud storage.
- Security – DB2 provide multi-site replication, high availability data replication, and failover capabilities to ensure data safety.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we looked into what is a database and why do we need a database. It is quite evident that data being the central for all the activities, we need to have effective ways to manage and store our data with security and availability. This lead to emergence of various databases which are discussed above. In the last part of the article we discussed the various databases that have gained poularity nowadays and it would be very beneficial for a developer to learn these databases in 2024. These databases incluse Oracle database, MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MariaDB, Microsoft SQL, Redis, IBM DB2 and many more like Firebase, Cassandra etc.
FAQs
What are the advantages of a database?
The advantages of a database include data organization, data integrity, data security, data scalability and data interoperability.
What does a relational database mean?
In a relational database, data is stored in the forms of records in a table where relationship between different data is shown using keys.
What databases should be used in 2024?
Oracle Database, MySQL, SQLite, PostreSQL, MongoDB, MariaDB, Microsoft SQL Server, Redis and IBM DB2 are the databases that should be learned in 2024.