Beyond Relational Databases

CowboyRobot writes "Relational databases were developed in the 1970s as a way of improving the efficiency of complex systems. But modern warehousing of data results in terabytes of information that needs to be organized, and the growing prevalence of mobile devices points to the increasing need for intelligent caching on the local hardware. According to the ACM, the future of database architecture must include more modularity and configuration. Although no concrete solutions are included, the article is a good overview of the problems with modern data systems."

Comments

Author's conclusion in case of slashdotting

[Anonymous Coward]

The future will not be found in the relational model, object model, or hybrid, but in the comma-delimited list.

Re:I did not RTFA

[abigor]

Yeah, for those terabytes of data taken up by your mom's recipes and your cd collection, the extreme power of PHP and MySql is all you need, man.

Re:KISS (I can prove SQL will be around)

[gosand]

SQL, on the other hand:
1) Reasonably simple API
2) Scales to very large databsaes
3) Cross-platform/architecture
4) Performs very well.

I am proof that SQL will be around for a while. When I first saw Unix back in the late 80s, I thought "this is too hard to use, why would anyone need this?" I have been a Unix/Linux user since about '92.

When I took my first SQL class, I thought "these queries are very cumbersome. SQL is stupid." I still use it today.

In '93 I heard about this thing called the World Wide Web, and thought "This is unnecessary. I can find whatever I need on gopher and ftp sites. Why would I want a gui thrown on top of it?"

As you can see, I am quite the visionary.