Couch DB, the non-relational - or “NoSQL” – database, has made it into a production-ready state and earned its version number 1.0.
Couch DB is a document-oriented database, with data stored as JSON files and that can be queried using MapReduce functions written in JavaScript. It has a RESTful JSON API, and can be queried simply over HTTP. It’s written in Erlang, and part of the Apache project incubator.
The technology differs from more conventional SQL-based data storage platforms in that it is queried in a different way, and stores its data in entirely different structures. These data structures are not constrained by schemas, leading to their “schemaless” label, and making it extremely easy for developers to change the way their data is stored arbitrarily.
The three key features that made it into the 1.0 release are stability improvements, performance increases, and – most interestingly – support for running on Windows. CouchDB’s corporate sponsors Couchio say internal metrics peg the speed improvements at 300% mostly through code optimization. In addition to the existing Linux and now Windows (desktop and server) support, a build is also planned that can run on Google’s Android mobile operating system.
Couch’s progression to production-ready status is the first of hopefully many of the “NoSQL” database projects to progress to being suitable for use in full-blown production environments.
More at the New York Times, Couch's official site, and on Couchio's site.
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