Welcome to the discussion about this lecture. Here you can ask questions or post feedback about this specific lecture.
1 Like
Pros and Cons of SQL database:
-
SQL is most common database type - sometimes can use combination of SQL and NoSQL
-
Many devs know how to use it
-
SQL is very good for relational data
-
SQL databases are very secure
-
To use an SQL database you need to structure your information and you need to know how your data is going to be structured from the beginning - have to define all rows columns and tables - you need to define structure up front - in other data bases such as NoSQL and other databases you can have ever changing data structure.
2 Likes
This is very interesting!
I ran a small healthcare practice for 20 years.
I can now talk about it now with professionals. Here was the centralized IT infrastructure (I was a littleguy) one personal computer as server and about 20 client computers.
L: Windows 7 Professional
A: Windows Workgroup (TCP/IP?)
M: MS Access
P: C+???
Anyway maybe 5 years ago there was an upgrade recommended to SQL. I presume the MS Access DB was just one big table? The practice management program changed too so I presume it went from C+ to VB.NET???
The rational advice to upgrade was not just for security, but the main reason was SPEED
So what they had to do was a migration from MS Access to SQL. Would that be restructuring by chunking the MS Access database to several smaller tables?
Anyway there was a significant improvement in speed. But you mentioned that NoSQL is faster so was the dramatic speed increase from the .NET application vs. the old C++???
Frankly I didn’t have a clue what was going on, just trusted the IT guys…now I know why at least and as I progress in this course I will find out where we are going should I re-enter the game again!
3 Likes
Hello sir, NOSQL could increase the speed of the database, but remember that NOSQL is only for those databases that are not in any need of relationshipt between database.
It could be many tables, with relationshipt between them, thats why probably your IT management choose this one instead of NOSQL.
If you have any doubt, please let us know so we can help you! 
Carlos Z.
Thankx Carlos, I regretfully exited the business late last year…my baby but in hind sight with current events I could not have been blessed more.
I just had a poor understanding of my IT tech stack and in Calgary, Alberta where I was located there just wasn’t a service out there that could cost-effectively manage the small enterprise. Corporate structures have entire IT departments but the smaller mom and pops just cannot afford one.
I tried NERDS but they did not have the bumper to bumper service set and were getting costly…
so what I did over the years was just learn little bits and pieces at a time and assembled an infrastructure that worked…was really a piece of sh*t compared to what it could have been if set up properly…but it worked for 20 years…it was a LADA, wasn’t stylish but for the most part rarely let me down.
The biggest leap of faith though was early 2019 switching from cisco Unified PBX to virtual PBX by RingCentral…was sweating bullets, but it transitioned well…was able to use all the cisco IP phones, and it actually was easier to use, more reliable and a cost savings (the cisco PBX was 2 years outside its service contract)…
anyway, now I am doing this…which is great because I never really understood the backend - frontend operation ever to begin with.
cheers
1 Like
@ivan I think this answer is incorrect. Whenever you know that the data is semi-structured, you should use NoSQL…correct? But the question is asking “When should you use an SQL database?”
This is a question in the QUIZ Databases (Question #1)
Can you confirm? or clarify?
1 Like
Hey @JackieBiz, hope you are great!
Any data with some kind of structure, must be made with SQL, the only way you do it with NoSQL is when there is not need for a structure on the data (relationships).
So the correct answer should be the first one (“semi-structured”).
Hope this helps 
Carlos Z
1 Like
Strength of SQL
very popular in the community for relationship tables
easy to use for developers
very secure with atomicity
very structure data (rows and tables defined)
although cannot modify the rows or tables if needed; due to security and fixed structure.
1 Like