Databases are the backbone of modern applications. They are everywhere. Whatever browser you’re using right now to read this blog post likely uses multiple SQLite instances database in the background and this website uses MySQL to serve you this page.
Databases are not a new concept and so there are many variations of databases. New developers often wonder which to learn. I know this because I was wondering the same thing when I started. But now, after many years of developing software the answer is clear and obvious.
In this blog post I will compare different options, lay out pros and cons, and recommend what to focus on. After reading this post, the answer to “SQL vs NoSQL: Which Should You Learn First” will be clear to you as well. Let’s dig into different types of databases.
What is a SQL database?
SQL databases are relational. They use SQL: Structured Query Language to query the data. These are your most common databases used all over the place.
Fun fact: There are over 1 trillion SQLite database instances in active use in the world. This is just one type of SQL databases.