Re: our Friam chat yesterday about the new databases that are not "relational" i.e. do not store data as tables of independent records which are joined for complete access. The new trend is called "NoSQL" and choses to avoid relational storage so that it can be massively distributed across multiple servers and geographies.
But these new data storage systems have a problem: they do not have a unified access API or language while relational databases are generally unified by SQL, the Structured Query Language (which most data base vendors augment .. so SQL is sorta a subset)
On a nifty play on words, the new standard interface language for NoSQL storage is UnQL (pronounced "Uncle)
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/395469/couchbase_sqlite_launch_unified_nosql_query_language
Quote: Hoping to unify the growing but disparate market of NoSQL databases, the creators behind CouchDB and SQLite have introduced a new query language for the format, called UnQL (Unstructured Data Query Language).
"The impetus for UnQL is to create some form of commonality among non-SQL databases," said James Phillips, a co-founder and vice president of products for Couchbase, which oversees the document-oriented CouchDB database.
UnQL, pronounced "Uncle," could be considered a "superset" of the SQL syntax, Phillips said. It can parse all statements formulated in the SQL language and supports a number of new operators and expressions as well.
-- Owen
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