6 Databases in Web Development
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AEROSPACE ENGINEERS6 Databases in Web Development
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AEROSPACE ENGINEERSDatabases in Web Development
An overview of the use of databases in web applications.
WE'LL COVER THE FOLLOWING
• Static vs. dynamic web pages
• DBMS in web applications
• Types of DBMS
• SQL
• NoSQL
• Test your understanding!
In the previous chapter, we discussed the basic structure and underlying
protocols of a web page. Now, we will begin looking into what goes into
forming a web page. To start with, we will talk about databases and database
management systems (DBMS) and the role they play in making the web
applications you see all around you, including this one! We know databases
are essentially tables used to store and access data, but we now need to look at
how these tables fit into the context of web application development. Before
we can start talking about what the purpose of a database in a web
application is, we must first outline the two kinds of websites that exist.
Static vs. dynamic web pages #
Websites may be classified into one of two types:
1. Static
2. Dynamic
Static websites are ones that only display information such as text or pictures
on their web pages that users cannot interact with.
Dynamic websites, on the other hand, allow for user interaction, and that is
where Databases come into the picture. Think of any website you’ve visited
today. How many of them required for you to sign in or allowed you to click
on a button that retrieved some information, perhaps even a new web page,
for you? This information that web applications are able to display to you or
process to allow you to access other information needs to be stored
somewhere. That somewhere is a database associated with the web
application.
Web Browser Database
Server-side
Application
Logic
Client-side Display Server-side
Data Management
Basic Structure of a Dynamic Website
DBMS in web applications #
DBMS, short for Database Management System, is essentially a sort of nuance
added to web development that allows data to be separated from the logic of
the application and stored separately to be retrieved and processed when
required. What this means is that the data is stored in a database that has an
entirely autonomous system governing it. The application then makes calls to
this database for any required data without having to integrate large amounts
of handling code within the application code itself. Database management
systems are, therefore, important to developers because they provide a highly
efficient method for handling multiple types of data, without interfering with
the application’s code.
Types of DBMS #
Database Management Systems can be categorized into one of two types:
1. SQL
2. NoSQL
SQL #
SQL databases, also known as relational databases, use structured query
language (SQL) for defining and manipulating data. On the one hand, this is
extremely useful since SQL is one of the most versatile and widely-used
options available, thus making it a safe choice and especially great for
complex queries. On the other hand, it can be restrictive, too, since SQL
requires that you use predefined schemas to determine the structure of your
data before you work with it. Moreover, data is always stored as a table in
SQL databases, which leads to inefficient and complicated data retrievals. In
addition, all of your data must follow the same structure. This can require
significant effort and may lead to a highly complicated data processing code
that can affect the quality of the overall application.
Some common SQL databases that we will be discussing in this chapter
include:
1. MySQL
2. PostgreSQL
3. MariaDB
NoSQL #
NoSQL databases, also known as non-relational databases, have a dynamic
schema for unstructured data, and data is stored in many ways, including key-
value pairs, documents and, even graphs. This flexibility means that you don’t
have to define the structure of your data explicitly and each data set can have
its own unique structure without having to worry about writing extraneous
lines of code to process this data to match a specific predefined structure.
These databases can grow dynamically, and the structure of data can vary
from database to database.
Popular NoSQL databases that we will be covering in this chapter include:
1. MongoDB
2. Apache CouchDB
3. Redis
Test your understanding! #
Quick Quiz on Databases!
1
Which of the following is NOT true about dynamic websites?
COMPLETED 0%
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That covers all we need to know about the role of databases and database
management systems in web development. Now, we will move on to look at
specific examples of both types of databases and list the pros and cons of both.