A Small History of NoSQL

NoSQL is a widely used and accepted technology albeit being a relatively new field in the IT world. So how did it make it to the top that quickly? In our short travel through the history of NoSQL, we want to discuss the term itself, what problems the technology addresses, and what misunderstandings are still out there.

We start our journey in the 1960s with the ideas of Edar Codd and the rise of relational databases. Then we continue to Eric Brewer and the proof of the CAP theorem where we discuss the consequences for distributed systems and a principle domain NoSQL deals with. We end up with the Michael Stonebraker's harsh critique of outdated implementations of relational systems and NoSQL technologies, which leads us to NewSQL systems. We close with a quick look at how some NoSQL stores developed over the recent years. The questions that guide us are: Where does all this lead us and does history repeat itself over and over again?