A gentle introduction to Embedded Databases
Traditional databases like MySQL, Postgres, MongoDB run on their server on a specific port. Anyone who wants to talk to the database can directly connect and talk.
Embedded Databases are different from these traditional databases, and they operate in their own confined space within a process. There is no separate process for the database.
No one can directly connect to this database, unlike how we do it with MySQL and other databases. The role and the use of the embedded database are limited to the process it is confined to.
Popular embedded databases are
SQLite: an embedded SQL-like database
LevelDB: on disk KV store by Google
RocksDB: on disk KV store optimized for performance
Berkeley DB: KV store with ACID, Replication, and Locking
An embedded database is always designed to solve one niche really well.
Application of Embedded Databases
Every modern browser uses an embedded database called IndexedDB to store browsing history and other configuration settings locally. The browser is confined to a machine, and the IndexedDB is contained in the browser; there is no separate process to connect to.
Every Android phone has support for SQLite database that we can use to store any information like game scores, stats, and information locally on the phone.
The core idea: When we need to store and query data that could be confined within a space and does not need to be centralized, we choose to use an Embedded Database.
Here's the video of my explaining this in-depth 👇 do check it out
Embedded databases are coupled with the application they are part of and operate in a confined space. They are designed to solve one problem for their niche very well. In this video, we take an introductory look into this amazing class of databases, understand the core reason why they exist, talk about a few popular ones, and understand a few use cases.
Outline:
00:00 Server-based Databases
02:32 Embedded Databases
06:35 Popular Embedded Databases
10:39 Applications of Embedded Databases
You can also
Subscribe to the YT Channel Asli Engineering
Listen to this on the go on Spotify
Thank you so much for reading 🖖 If you found this helpful, do spread the word about it on social media; it would mean the world to me.
You can also follow me on your favourite social media LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Yours truly,
Arpit
arpitbhayani.me
Until next time, stay awesome :)