In this episode, Adam is talks to Alex DeBrie about DynamoDB, and how it compares to relational databases like MySQL.
Show Notes
Topics include:
- Does DynamoDB only make sense for things like your cache, or is it a good choice for a primary data store?
- An overview of the terminology used in DynamoDB and how the terminology compares to a relational database
- How primary keys work in DynamoDB
- What data types are available in DynamoDB
- How DynamoDB is a schemaless database
- Why it's important to understand your access patterns in advance with DynamoDB, unlike in a relational database
- Understanding why and how you usually have multiple record types in a single DynamoDB table
- What "index overloading" is in DynamoDB
- Understanding partition keys and sort keys
- How to structure your data in DynamoDB to make it possible to query related data, and how those queries work
- How secondary indexes work, allowing you to access the same data in different ways
- How to accommodate access patterns you didn't know about before you designed your schema
- When to flatten relationships vs. nest them
- Should you use DynamoDB if you aren't "web-scale"?
- How local development works with DynamoDB
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What is Full Stack Radio?
A podcast for developers interested in building great software products. Every episode, Adam Wathan is joined by a guest to talk about everything from product design and user experience to unit testing and system administration.