NoSQL
Technology & Computing abbreviation · Programming
| Stands for | Not only SQL |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
NoSQL stands for Not only SQL, a programming abbreviation.
A broad category of databases that store data in models other than relational tables, such as documents (MongoDB), key-value pairs (Redis), wide columns (Cassandra) and graphs (Neo4j). They are often chosen for flexible schemas and horizontal scaling across many servers.
Example: Session data lives in a NoSQL store, while orders stay in PostgreSQL for transactions.
Usage notes
The label spread from a 2009 meetup on open-source distributed databases; it was first read as "no SQL" and later softened to "not only SQL". Many NoSQL systems trade strict consistency for availability, in line with the CAP theorem, though several now support transactions and SQL-like query languages. Web-scale companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook drove the movement with systems like Bigtable and Dynamo.
Related abbreviations
More programming abbreviations
- MQ – Message queue
- MR – Merge request
- MVC – Model-view-controller
- MVVM – Model-view-viewmodel
- NaN – Not a number
- NIH – Not invented here
- NPE – NullPointerException
- npm – npm (often expanded as Node Package Manager)
- OOM – Out of memory
- OOP – Object-oriented programming
- ORM – Object-relational mapping
- OS – Operating system