Data Models

Data models tend to disproportionately affect software development decisions. They not only dictate how the software is written but also influence how developers think about the problem being solved.

Nowadays, most databases can be classified under relational, document, or graph data models. But Early database systems modeled data as a hierarchy of records. It is important to understand the motives that necessitated a new type of data model.

Newer database implementations try to merge different data models under one umbrella. But each model has its strengths and weaknesses, and it is crucial to understand them to be able to choose the best-suited database for your problem domain. Because when you get this wrong, your Applications have to make up for the shortcomings of data models.