Purpose-built databases

Thirty years ago, database options were limited. The relational database rose to the top and was widely used in nearly all applications. This made it easier to choose the database in your application architecture, but it limited the types of applications you could build. A relational database is like a Swiss army knife: it can do many things, but it is not perfectly suited to any one particular task.

In the last three decades, we've seen a rapid shift in the database landscape. The introduction of internet-enabled applications has changed the demands we place on our databases. As a result, developers now reach for databases that can go faster and more global than ever before. Additionally, the rise of cloud computing has changed what's possible technically because we can build more resilient, scalable applications in an economical way.

These changes have led to the rise of the purpose-built database. Developers don't need to reach for the default relational database anymore. They can carefully consider the needs of their application and choose a database tailored to those needs. For mobile applications with heterogeneous data records, they can choose a document database that provides great scalability and performance. For tightly related data, developers can use a graph database to explore hidden connections between records. For high-speed applications, they can reach for an in-memory cache to get submillisecond response times.

With all the database options available, there's never been a better time to be a developer.

In this course, you learn how to provision and use five different purpose-built databases in an application. First, you learn about why you would want to use purpose-built databases and the factors to consider when choosing a database. Then you can view five walkthrough examples of choosing purpose-built databases when building applications with Amazon Web Services.

AWS experience: Intermediate

Time to complete: 3 hours