MongoDB vs CouchDB

This is not a ASW title, but the name of a skillsmatter evening talk, unlike most skills matter presentations this was only 10 mins long (presented by Ryan Duffield @rduffield ) , which allowed for a good bit of discussion before we piled down to the pub, anyway you can see the presentation HERE.

I took a load of notes during the talk and the discussion afterwards, but have decided not to put them down here in the end, as to me the real differences between the 2 databases were down to their origins and usage cases rather than direct comparisons, yes they are both NoSQL dbs but they are very very different beasts, MongoDb is a noSQL db designed to appeal to relational DB developers, its interfaces are the same, a lot of its behaviours are the same and one of its main roles is to overcome the scaling issues that traditional relational dB’s suffer from in this Internet age, a challenge that it is proving its self more than a match for, where as Couchdb (and its enterprise evolution couchbase) was designed to fulfil approximately the same role as one of its inspirations ‘Lotus Notes’ (though without its limitations), in that is is designed for robustness, security and replication rather than speed, able to survive on large and small devices alike and able to carry its applications with it.

Soooo basically, if you want good replication and serious horizontal scaling where fault tolerance is more important than performance then go for couchdb, but if your looking for a high performance NoSQL replacement for a relational db like MySQL where scaling to massive size is your primary requirement, then go for Mongo

(waits to be flamed)

Old Comments

Sean cull(11/10/2011 22:37:24 GDT)

I must admit that using xpages is highlighting the limitations of the underlying NSF much more.

Adding 3 drop down filters to a repeat /view means a view with 3 key columns and many times more rows of data if a ft search is not possible.

Yes I know this wasn’t possible with notes but in xpages you want to match the feature sets on other modern web application.

Similarly my rule of thumb of <100k records in an NSF is severely challenged by the apps that I want to write now.

Xpages is cool but now the NSF ( which I need for replication ) is felling old.

Richard Moy(11/10/2011 16:04:12 GDT)

I have tried Coucbdb. It is a good analogy to NSF with one exception which I think is great, there is a true separation of form and data.

Mark Myers(11/10/2011 16:10:18 GDT)

Cool

Mark Myers(11/10/2011 23:46:47 GDT)

@sean – i could not agree more, the 32k limit and performance problems are really starting to cause issues, making me start to doubt notes as a platform or find it hard to justify, i reckon it should be IBMs next port of call, we have xpages, we have xwork server, time to update the data store

Simon Letourneau(15/12/2011 16:31:55 GMT)

In Domino there is the 64k limit of any @formula result.

-workaround easy with generating an evenly distributed index and using it as a key in lookups. In kiwi hoop we do a modulo X of the lenght of a field. We then make X lookups and merge the results. Once you code the layer in lotusscript it goes fine.

There is the 32k limit in a field. You can set the isSummary = false on the item. You can also use a wrapper class that will split the setValue and then merge the getValue.

We have solved these limits so there is really no advantage to drop domino. We still benefit from so much good features that will never see the light in couch or mongo.

Mark Myers(22/12/2011 14:44:57 GMT)

@simon your dead right, its one of the thinks i have mentioned to the mongo guys, that IBM have been fighting these problems for ages so learn from their lessons

New Anime Series- Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon

First Episode Review for: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon

Summary : Future looking world where no one seems normal (like a world populated only with super heroes), a practical and violent school exam takes place on a giant ship floating though the atmosphere

Animation : Very very good animation, the first versions that have come down off the wire are not doing it justice, this maybe worth a blueray import

Plot Potential: An incredible, packed 24 mins for a first episode, but there is no obvious plot, they obviously realised this and crammed the history and most of the future plot in the end credits, weird, but who am I to grumble.

Characters: Very good costume design, and excellent original settings, there are some stereotypes but well done, completely over the top and often inspired

Music: Good pumping battle music and some soulful singing by the main character

Reminds me of: err, sort of like the hectic parts of Oh my goddess with a bit of Slayers in it and then added to Blue Exorcist

Overall: Just on looks alone I will be watching this, the start up credits were such a mix of character designs that I initially thought is was some sort of vehicle for a marvel vs Capcom style game (so much so I went and looked the series up, but no it is apparently a genuine series), good fun

Disclaimer: These are mini reviews of anime’s that are fresh out in Japan and are not licensed in the UK, buy them once they have been licensed or at the very least buy the merchandise, remember if the anime makers make a loss, THEY WILL STOP MAKING ANIME!!

New Anime Series- Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasali!

First Episode Review for: Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasali!

Summary : A school resolves class disputes with full blown wars, sort of like a demented school version of “the art of war” but with fan service and power poses,

Animation : Very much standard fair, not bad enough to complain about, but not good enough to notice

Plot Potential: Quite a lot actually, it could become a political drama played out in a school with added dragon ball Z

Characters: Stereotype overload, lots of them, there is even a one eyes German woman with long hair in boots and baggy pants

Music: Standard fair, nice use in the fight scenes though

Reminds me of: Clamp school detectives crossed between Fate/stay night

Overall: Entertaining and a fun 24mins, but im unsure where they are going to go with it, need to give it a couple more episodes before deciding, but very promising

Disclaimer: These are mini reviews of anime’s that are fresh out in Japan and are not licensed in the UK, buy them once they have been licensed or at the very least buy the merchandise, remember if the anime makers make a loss, THEY WILL STOP MAKING ANIME!!

New Anime Series- Towa No Quon

Im a bit slow on this one as it has been on my machine for a while, and is more a mini movie than a series (45 mins)

First Episode Review for: Towa No Quon

Summary : Mutating humans chased down by government agency and the underground that protects them

Animation : Very pleasant, not ghost in the shell quality but still very passable.

Plot Potential: Very good plot, what i initially thought of as the good guys turned out to be the bad guys within the first 10 mins, a nice world and good mix of mecha and mutant

Characters: Some stereo typing, but otherwise a nice original feel to most of the characters

Music: Nothing special

Reminds me of: Casshern Sins

Overall: This was supposed to be a movie series, but i have not seen any more,am really looking forward to them.

Disclaimer: These are mini reviews of anime’s that are fresh out in Japan and are not licensed in the UK, buy them once they have been licensed or at the very least buy the merchandise, remember if the anime makers make a loss, THEY WILL STOP MAKING ANIME!!

Worst corporate BS statement for a long time

I recently found this in a Java tech spec, written by a developer who should have known better

“Note No Non-Functional or Quality of Service criterion has been established from the Phase 3 System Requirements in terms of facilitating the quantitative assessment and validation of the XXX Phase 3 Architecture”

Shoot me now!!!

Old Comments

Ben Poole(30/09/2011 07:44:57 GDT)

Marc: love it!

As for those developer notes Mr. Myers, we both know it’s not you who should be lined up and shot

Mark Myers(27/09/2011 14:08:51 GDT)

didn’t MBR do that with an Amazon voucher?

its a grand plan!

Mark Myers(27/09/2011 11:17:19 GDT)

Ohhhhhh good one, that’s an evil line

Mick Moignard(27/09/2011 11:16:02 GDT)

In my mainframe days as a programming project leader, I once got a system spec, all fully signed off, QA approved, the whole corporate works, where, under the heading Management Reports, was the one liner

“There will be Management Reports”.

I refused it. After the inevitable fight, the QA department sided with me (?!??!?!?) and the project got canned.

Marc Champoux(27/09/2011 13:04:55 GDT)

Back when I was coding a few years ago, I often had to come up with User Requirements and Design Specs documents. I’d create them and make sure they were complete (i.e. none of that “there will be a management report” one-liner).

However, I was sure nobody was reading what I wrote so I decided to have a bit of fun and for 2 years in a row, I would always add a line somewhere buried in a paragraph that said “If you read this line, let me know and I will buy you a coffee”. It took 2 years for QA to finally discover that line.

Even after QA discovered it, I kept doing it anyway because I wanted to see if the business owners were reading what I wrote for them… They weren’t because I never got a comment from them about it.

Marc