Oren Eini

aka Ayende Rahien

Oren Eini

CEO of RavenDB

a NoSQL Open Source Document Database

Get in touch with me:

oren@ravendb.net +972 52-548-6969

Posts: 7,575
|
Comments: 51,188

Copyright ©️ Ayende Rahien 2004 — 2025

Privacy Policy · Terms
filter by tags archive
stack view grid view
  • architecture (606) rss
  • bugs (450) rss
  • challanges (123) rss
  • community (377) rss
  • databases (481) rss
  • design (893) rss
  • development (640) rss
  • hibernating-practices (71) rss
  • miscellaneous (592) rss
  • performance (397) rss
  • programming (1085) rss
  • raven (1442) rss
  • ravendb.net (526) rss
  • reviews (184) rss
  • 2025
    • May (7)
    • April (10)
    • March (10)
    • February (7)
    • January (12)
  • 2024
    • December (3)
    • November (2)
    • October (1)
    • September (3)
    • August (5)
    • July (10)
    • June (4)
    • May (6)
    • April (2)
    • March (8)
    • February (2)
    • January (14)
  • 2023
    • December (4)
    • October (4)
    • September (6)
    • August (12)
    • July (5)
    • June (15)
    • May (3)
    • April (11)
    • March (5)
    • February (5)
    • January (8)
  • 2022
    • December (5)
    • November (7)
    • October (7)
    • September (9)
    • August (10)
    • July (15)
    • June (12)
    • May (9)
    • April (14)
    • March (15)
    • February (13)
    • January (16)
  • 2021
    • December (23)
    • November (20)
    • October (16)
    • September (6)
    • August (16)
    • July (11)
    • June (16)
    • May (4)
    • April (10)
    • March (11)
    • February (15)
    • January (14)
  • 2020
    • December (10)
    • November (13)
    • October (15)
    • September (6)
    • August (9)
    • July (9)
    • June (17)
    • May (15)
    • April (14)
    • March (21)
    • February (16)
    • January (13)
  • 2019
    • December (17)
    • November (14)
    • October (16)
    • September (10)
    • August (8)
    • July (16)
    • June (11)
    • May (13)
    • April (18)
    • March (12)
    • February (19)
    • January (23)
  • 2018
    • December (15)
    • November (14)
    • October (19)
    • September (18)
    • August (23)
    • July (20)
    • June (20)
    • May (23)
    • April (15)
    • March (23)
    • February (19)
    • January (23)
  • 2017
    • December (21)
    • November (24)
    • October (22)
    • September (21)
    • August (23)
    • July (21)
    • June (24)
    • May (21)
    • April (21)
    • March (23)
    • February (20)
    • January (23)
  • 2016
    • December (17)
    • November (18)
    • October (22)
    • September (18)
    • August (23)
    • July (22)
    • June (17)
    • May (24)
    • April (16)
    • March (16)
    • February (21)
    • January (21)
  • 2015
    • December (5)
    • November (10)
    • October (9)
    • September (17)
    • August (20)
    • July (17)
    • June (4)
    • May (12)
    • April (9)
    • March (8)
    • February (25)
    • January (17)
  • 2014
    • December (22)
    • November (19)
    • October (21)
    • September (37)
    • August (24)
    • July (23)
    • June (13)
    • May (19)
    • April (24)
    • March (23)
    • February (21)
    • January (24)
  • 2013
    • December (23)
    • November (29)
    • October (27)
    • September (26)
    • August (24)
    • July (24)
    • June (23)
    • May (25)
    • April (26)
    • March (24)
    • February (24)
    • January (21)
  • 2012
    • December (19)
    • November (22)
    • October (27)
    • September (24)
    • August (30)
    • July (23)
    • June (25)
    • May (23)
    • April (25)
    • March (25)
    • February (28)
    • January (24)
  • 2011
    • December (17)
    • November (14)
    • October (24)
    • September (28)
    • August (27)
    • July (30)
    • June (19)
    • May (16)
    • April (30)
    • March (23)
    • February (11)
    • January (26)
  • 2010
    • December (29)
    • November (28)
    • October (35)
    • September (33)
    • August (44)
    • July (17)
    • June (20)
    • May (53)
    • April (29)
    • March (35)
    • February (33)
    • January (36)
  • 2009
    • December (37)
    • November (35)
    • October (53)
    • September (60)
    • August (66)
    • July (29)
    • June (24)
    • May (52)
    • April (63)
    • March (35)
    • February (53)
    • January (50)
  • 2008
    • December (58)
    • November (65)
    • October (46)
    • September (48)
    • August (96)
    • July (87)
    • June (45)
    • May (51)
    • April (52)
    • March (70)
    • February (43)
    • January (49)
  • 2007
    • December (100)
    • November (52)
    • October (109)
    • September (68)
    • August (80)
    • July (56)
    • June (150)
    • May (115)
    • April (73)
    • March (124)
    • February (102)
    • January (68)
  • 2006
    • December (95)
    • November (53)
    • October (120)
    • September (57)
    • August (88)
    • July (54)
    • June (103)
    • May (89)
    • April (84)
    • March (143)
    • February (78)
    • January (64)
  • 2005
    • December (70)
    • November (97)
    • October (91)
    • September (61)
    • August (74)
    • July (92)
    • June (100)
    • May (53)
    • April (42)
    • March (41)
    • February (84)
    • January (31)
  • 2004
    • December (49)
    • November (26)
    • October (26)
    • September (6)
    • April (10)
Deep Dive into RavenDB webinars
  previous post next post  
Jan 15 2009

There is no database

time to read 1 min | 76 words

I just noticed that for the last few months I have been consistently denying the existence of a database. I use the term persistent storage when asked, and when asked I usually say: “There is no database”.

It has gotten to the point that this is how I draw the DB on most whiteboard sessions:

image

Tweet Share Share 10 comments
Tags:
  • Miscellaneous
  • Databases
  • Humor

  previous post next post  

Comments

Andy Knight
14 Jan 2009
23:13 PM
Andy Knight

"Instead only try to realize the truth: There is no spoon" - lol

Anon
15 Jan 2009
03:08 AM
Anon

All databases are [probably] persistent storage. All persistent storage is not database. Using the term database instantly recognizes the fact[?] that all databases use some form of SQL; where as persistent storage has no such recognition.

Petar Repac
15 Jan 2009
07:39 AM
Petar Repac

Oren, are you saying that there is no "the most expensive part of an enterprise application" ?

The part that holds The Data. It seems like like ignorance.

Carl
15 Jan 2009
10:45 AM
Carl

database

–noun

  1. a comprehensive collection of related data organized for convenient access, generally in a computer.

If you store data in it then it is a database.

I would say that there is a database but there is no Database or DBMS... possibly...

Tobin Harris
15 Jan 2009
10:46 AM
Tobin Harris

I'm probably a few years behind you there!

But I find that I open SQL Studio about once every two weeks, rather than every time I open Visual Studio. I still know there's a persistent storage medium there, but most of the time I no longer really care if it's a RDBMS, an XML file store, a service layer, or whatever.

Damian Hickey
15 Jan 2009
14:38 PM
Damian Hickey

I'd probably draw it like this:

img258.imageshack.us/img258/1976/nodbiy3.png

I jest! :)

Chris Canal
15 Jan 2009
16:24 PM
Chris Canal

I gave an NHibernate talk at my local user group on Tuesday and this is something I really tried to get across, there where a few confused looks and few smirks, but it went over better than I thought :)

Scott White
16 Jan 2009
15:13 PM
Scott White

ORM Euphoria? I'd like to think I'm about there too. I tend to talk more in terms of objects, interaction and process flows.

Petar Repac
17 Jan 2009
11:42 AM
Petar Repac

There is no silver bullet and I think ORM is not also.

It could cover 99% of use cases but what you do with 1% left ? Call DBA to help ? Or quit ignoring that there is an RDBMS and solve the problem there if it is the best/cheapest way to go ?

Vincent
21 Jan 2009
11:29 AM
Vincent

Does that also mean not stored procs and no triggers?

Comment preview

Comments have been closed on this topic.

Markdown formatting

ESC to close

Markdown turns plain text formatting into fancy HTML formatting.

Phrase Emphasis

*italic*   **bold**
_italic_   __bold__

Links

Inline:

An [example](http://url.com/ "Title")

Reference-style labels (titles are optional):

An [example][id]. Then, anywhere
else in the doc, define the link:
  [id]: http://example.com/  "Title"

Images

Inline (titles are optional):

![alt text](/path/img.jpg "Title")

Reference-style:

![alt text][id]
[id]: /url/to/img.jpg "Title"

Headers

Setext-style:

Header 1
========
Header 2
--------

atx-style (closing #'s are optional):

# Header 1 #
## Header 2 ##
###### Header 6

Lists

Ordered, without paragraphs:

1.  Foo
2.  Bar

Unordered, with paragraphs:

*   A list item.
    With multiple paragraphs.
*   Bar

You can nest them:

*   Abacus
    * answer
*   Bubbles
    1.  bunk
    2.  bupkis
        * BELITTLER
    3. burper
*   Cunning

Blockquotes

> Email-style angle brackets
> are used for blockquotes.
> > And, they can be nested.
> #### Headers in blockquotes
> 
> * You can quote a list.
> * Etc.

Horizontal Rules

Three or more dashes or asterisks:

---
* * *
- - - - 

Manual Line Breaks

End a line with two or more spaces:

Roses are red,   
Violets are blue.

Fenced Code Blocks

Code blocks delimited by 3 or more backticks or tildas:

```
This is a preformatted
code block
```

Header IDs

Set the id of headings with {#<id>} at end of heading line:

## My Heading {#myheading}

Tables

Fruit    |Color
---------|----------
Apples   |Red
Pears	 |Green
Bananas  |Yellow

Definition Lists

Term 1
: Definition 1
Term 2
: Definition 2

Footnotes

Body text with a footnote [^1]
[^1]: Footnote text here

Abbreviations

MDD <- will have title
*[MDD]: MarkdownDeep

 

FUTURE POSTS

  1. Optimizing the cost of clearing a set - 3 days from now
  2. Scaling HNSW in RavenDB: Optimizing for inadequate hardware - 5 days from now

There are posts all the way to May 14, 2025

RECENT SERIES

  1. RavenDB News (2):
    02 May 2025 - May 2025
  2. Recording (15):
    30 Apr 2025 - Practical AI Integration with RavenDB
  3. Production Postmortem (52):
    07 Apr 2025 - The race condition in the interlock
  4. RavenDB (13):
    02 Apr 2025 - .NET Aspire integration
  5. RavenDB 7.1 (6):
    18 Mar 2025 - One IO Ring to rule them all
View all series

RECENT COMMENTS

  • But in case you have nullability checks enabled (i.e. `<Nullable>enable</Nullable>`), then you'll have a compiler warning on ...
    By Samyon Ristov on The null check that didn't check for nulls
  • Grok wasn't *wrong*. It only said that `_items` can't be null for the condition to evaluate to `true`, but didn't say anythi...
    By Johannes Egger on The null check that didn't check for nulls
  • When I started enabling NRT, I remember I was initially confused when all variables (for reference types) declared with `var`...
    By riccardo on The null check that didn't check for nulls
  • That is surprising - I think of var as a shorthand that does not affect the final result of the compilation. I wouldn't expec...
    By Chris B on The null check that didn't check for nulls
  • "It is also about as friendly as a monkey with a sore tooth and an alcohol addiction." And I have to clean my monitor.
    By Tim on When racing the Heisenbug, code quality goes out the Windows

Syndication

Main feed Feed Stats
Comments feed   Comments Feed Stats
}