DynamoDB
It’s a NoSQL Database from AWS
Differences from SQL Database
- Records of a table can have different fields
- Tables can be partitioned using partition keys, I think you cannot query fast across different partitions. I think an analogy to partition keys would be like having a table across multiple databases in SQL Databases
- Tables also have sort keys, this determines how records are ordered, and you can only query contiguous records, I think you cannot filter nor change the order (maybe only reverse the default order)
- So basically partition keys and sort keys determines how the table can be queried. This limitations is the tradeoff that makes DynamoDB fast.
- There are some advantages with the connection management, I think it allows a lot more concurrent connections, but I don’t know the details.
Use cases
- High scalability
- Better integration with serverless architecture, because of better connection management
What led to learning this
Podcast: Full Stack Radio: 139: Alex DeBrie - DynamoDB for Relational Database Diehards